The Rage Within
by AutobotV
Summary: Optimus Prime replaces a circuit within him that seems to give the Autobot leader violent changes. Soon Optimus Prime becomes a threat to both Decepticons and Autobots and it will take both fractions to stop him! Will UPDATE SOON! SORRY FOR THE WAIT
1. Chapter 1

_I don't know how or why but I had to start this fic! _

**The Red and Black Chip**

_**Cybertron: 14 Million Years Ago**_

Deep within the slums of the great cities on the Planet Cybertron, a secret lab with three Transformers were performing their final tests on their project. Within the lab the three scientist researchers, Alpha 5, Mainstream and Blowout were the only ones who knew the location of the lab and the research they were conducting was forbidden in Cybertron Law, the main reason they were forced to use a lab within the dark slums. Although Alpha 5 and Blowout were devoted to the research Mainstream was concerned with what they were making.

'Is this right?' asked the smaller bot.

'Mainstream, we've been through this over a hundred times now!' snapped Alpha 5, as he carefully picked out the outcome of the many cycles of research.

'This will benefit all of Cybertron!' said Blowout as he took the device out of Alpha 5's hand.

'You'll see! In the future someone will be grateful!'

Mainstream looked at his feet. He had a feeling that this wasn't such a good idea.

_**Earth: Present Day**_

'Do you think this is such a good idea?' asked Spike as he picked up a box and put it to the side.

'Of course it is!' replied Carly, sweeping the floor.

'But I wonder how Wheeljack will react!' pondered Chip, as he wheeled over with another box for Spike.

'Ahh, don't worry! He might be glad you did it!' said Bumblebee as he finished sorting out a pile of tools.

Spike, Carly, Chip and Bumblebee had been cleaning Wheeljack's workshop all day. The scientist was getting checked out by Ratchet and Carly wanted to surprise the mech by cleaning his messy workshop. Wheeljack had a reputation for being one of the messiest Autobots ever! The three humans had surprised themselves when they looked round at their progress. Of course, cleaning a workshop owned by a 20ft robot wasn't easy so they were grateful when Bumblebee offered to help. Soon the workshop looked clean and tidy and not the trash site that Wheeljack had a habit leaving it in. Carly looked round pleased with what they had done.

'This is perfect! He'll love it!' she squealed.

'I dunno. He might flip a circuit!' muttered Spike.

Carly looked at him, slightly angry.

'You men are all the same!' she snapped.

'You all like to live and work in a mess!'

'Technically, robots don't have genders!' explained Chip.

'What's that supposed to mean?' asked Bumblebee, surprised that Chip would say such a thing.

As the four friends argued they were unaware that Bluestreak had just passed the open door of Wheeljack's workshop. He looked at it not stopping and was surprised with what he saw.

'Wow! It's so tidy!' he thought to himself as he headed to Ratchet's medical bay.

Inside Wheeljack was closing up his Spark Housing Unit as Ratchet was typing something down on his computer. Bluestreak had come down to give a report to Ratchet and was glad he didn't have to get kicked out. Ratchet hated it when someone walked in on him examining someone unless it was really important.

'Well Wheeljack, you're as healthy as the first day you rolled of the commission line!' informed the medical officer.

'Good to know!' replied Wheeljack, hopping off the examining table and looking up to see Bluestreak walk in.

'Hey Bluestreak! How's it going?' asked the cheerful mech.

'Nothing much. By the way, your workshop is looking pretty clean today!' replied the young bot.

Wheeljack suddenly stopped being so cheerful. He looked at Bluestreak with optics that made the young bot jump back with fear. Ratchet looked up a little surprised to hear that Wheeljack's workshop was clean, it was always such a mess.

'What...do you mean...it's clean?' asked Wheeljack, in a very dangerous tone.

'W-well I just saw Spike, Carly, Chip and Bumblebee cleaning it and I just thought it looked clean!'

Before Bluestreak could say anything else, Wheeljack ran out the medical bay. Ratchet had heard the whole thing and he sighed.

'I better follow.' he muttered.

* * *

'WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!' wailed Wheeljack, as he walked in to his now very tidy workshop. 

The three humans looked up with uneasy faces and Bumblebee was just looking down, not wanting to see Wheeljack's angry optics. The mech was not pretty when he got mad. Wheeljack was just looking round in horror.

'YOU RUINED IT! MY PERFECT WORKSHOP!' he howled.

'It did need a clean up Wheeljack.' explained Carly, trying to calm him down.

Wheeljack looked at her with a death glare.

'I like working in a mess! I know where everything is and now...where's my wrench?' he muttered, looking around.

'In that drawer with the rest of your tools.' replied Chip.

Wheeljack howled in anger again and at that moment Ratchet and Bluestreak walked in. Ratchet looked round amazed but concerned. Wheeljack may be messy but he knew where everything was even if it was under a pile of trash. It was amusing though to see the scientist slumped on the floor in dispear.

'Wow, they really did clean it up!' he said, trying to cheer Wheeljack up.

Wheeljack looked at him, anger in his optics.

'You didn't mind me working in a mess!' he snapped.

As the bots tried to calm Wheeljack down, Spike leaned over to Carly, who noticed.

'Don't...say it.' she muttered.

Spike grinned and leaned in even closer to her ear so he could whisper,

'Told ya so!' replied Spike, earning a slap to the head from the blond.

After a while there was a knock at the door. Looking up they saw Jazz and Optimus Prime walking in. Prime was holding his head as if he had a headache and Jazz just looked round in awe.

'Prime ol buddy, I do believe we ain't in the right place.' said the 3rd in command.

Wheeljack walked over, a little embarrassed that Optimus had seen him very upset. Optimus was just rubbing his head and he seemed to be in a bit of pain. Wheeljack examined him before asking,

'What can I do for ya Prime?' he asked, suddenly calm.

Jazz began snickering as Optimus began to explain the reason for his visit.

'Well Jazz told me something...amusing...and I blew a personality circuit. I need a spare.' explained the leader of the Autobots.

Wheeljack glanced at Jazz, who was trying to hold a laugh from coming out.

'You told him the energon recharge berth joke, didn't you?' he asked.

The moment Wheeljack said it, Jazz fell over laughing like mad. Ratchet snickered and Bluestreak put his hand over his vocal processor and knelt over to prevent himself from falling. Bumblebee chuckled as well and the humans just looked confused.

'What joke?' asked Chip.

'Sorry Chip, I don't think you'd get it!' giggled Wheeljack.

Chip looked down in disappointment as Wheeljack walked over to his desk.

'So you need to replace a personality circuit?' chuckled Wheeljack as he opened a drawer.

After a moment he slammed it shut and glared back at Carly. Carly jumped back a little afraid, she had already made the Autobot mad and she had a feeling she knew why.

'What...did you do...with my spare circuits?' he said, in a very low tone.

'I put all the circuits in that box over there!' said Carly, pointing to a large box piled under a few others.

Wheeljack walked over and pulled the box from under the pile, causing the other boxes to fall and the contents fall all over the place making a small mess. Carly sighed as Wheeljack opened the box. Spike chuckled a little and Chip just sighed.

'You put all my circuits in here?' asked Wheeljack, realizing this was now going to be hard.

He used to keep circuits here and there and he knew where they were but now he had all different types of circuits in the same place. All he needed was a blank circuit to replace Prime's personality circuit and he started fishing around the box of jumbled circuits. He pulled the first one out and looked at it.

'Too small.' he muttered, throwing the circuit behind him.

He pulled another one out.

'Nope, too thick.' he muttered again, tossing it to the side.

Carly grumbled as Wheeljack began making the workshop a junk pile again. Spike just chuckled, he had a feeling that today's efforts were going to go to waste, Wheeljack made a mess where ever he went. Wheeljack continued pulling out circuits until he pulled a red and black one out. He looked at it with curiosity.

'I don't remember having this.' he said looking at it closely.

He turned to the humans.

'Where'd you get this?' he asked.

'I dunno.' replied Spike.

'I think that was what Bumblebee found.' said Chip.

Bumblebee walked over and had a look.

'Oh yeah! I found that under that pile of junk you brought back from Cybertron!' said the small yellow Autobot.

Wheeljack looked back at it. According to his sensors it was just a blank circuit, no special functions and no viruses were within it. The colour was unusual but nothing out of the ordinary. Wheeljack didn't even remember having this and for some reason it gave him the chills. Ignoring it he handed it over to Optimus.

'This should do. Just download the personality data into your backup mainframe and switch them round and then you can download the data into the circuit. Like the humans say, "easy as pie", whatever a pie is.'

Optimus took the circuit and looked at it. His sensors told him the same thing that Wheeljack's told him. It was an unusual circuit but nothing seemed special about it and it didn't seem dangerous. Shrugging it off he thanked Wheeljack and left the room to find a private place. Wheeljack looked round his workshop and sighed.

'It's gonna take forever to get this place back to the way it was.' he muttered.

'Knowing you Wheeljack that won't take too long!' snickered Jazz.

* * *

Optimus Prime sat down within his quarters and pulled the panel on the back of his head. He had already downloaded the personality into the backup mainframe and it was safe to pull out the burnt out one. He gently pulled it out and had a look at it. Completely burned out with a bit of smoke rising out it. Still he couldn't help but chuckle at what had happened that morning. 

_'Prime! Prime! Guess what! I got a new joke!' wailed Jazz._

_Optimus was talking to Sparkplug at the moment but looked up to see an excited Jazz. Jazz always came up with funny jokes and they did make him chuckle from time to time. Sparkplug himself got interested._

_'Cool, I always wanted to hear an Autobot joke!' he piped._

_Jazz then began._

_'Okay, okay. An Autobot walks into an energon recharge berth and asks to be refilled with ore-13 and ion-82. The medical officer asks, why mix the two?, and the Autobot says, Cause I've just been to sector 2286Alpha!'_

_The moment Jazz had finished with the punchline Optimus Prime began chuckling, then began laughing really loud, until he had to hold on a ledge for support to stop himself from falling over. Jazz was laughing too and he almost fell over. Sparkplug just looked confused. Suddenly there was a loud bang and both Sparkplug and Jazz jumped. Optimus grabbed the back of his head and wailed._

_'Owowowowowowow. Oh jeez that hurts.' he muttered._

_'You okay Prime?' asked Jazz looking at the back of his leader's head._

_Sparkplug stepped up._

_'I thought a bomb went off or something!' he said._

_According to Prime's sensors, he blew one of his personality circuits. Prime sighed, figures that something like that would blow within him. To an Autobot it meant that they were getting old, the proof was that Ironhide blew his about 20 odd times! Standing up Prime began walking in the direction of Wheeljack's workshop, with Jazz following._

Prime chuckled again and picked up the circuit Wheeljack gave him. It did confuse him that this circuit gave him a funny feeling. Though his sensors said it was safe he couldn't help but think something was wrong with it. Shaking it off Prime inserted within him, maybe he could ask Wheeljack to repair his old one to get rid of this funny feeling. The moment the circuit settled within him, he suddenly felt a powerful jolt. He almost fell over and he gasped when his circuits began to heat up. He quickly activated his cooling systems and tried standing back up. After a moment the funny feeling had subsided and Prime felt like he was back to normal.

'Strange.' pondered the Autobot leader, as he closed up his head.

Optimus shook his head and left his quarters. He had replaced circuits in the past but it never did that to him before. Maybe because it was a different design then what Optimus was used to, it seemed to be the only logical explanation. Optimus began walking back to Wheeljack's workshop, wondering if it would still be clean.

* * *

Jazz, Ratchet and Bluestreak watched as Wheeljack began trying to find all of his tools where Bumblebee had put them. Bumblebee was a little disappointed that Wheeljack didn't even say thanks, then again he wouldn't like it if someone messed with his stuff, but still he could at least thank him. Wheeljack moaned and groaned as he opened cupboards and pulled open drawers. He looked back at Bumblebee.

'Where's my Ion-Reflexor?' he demanded.

'I put that with your power tools!' replied Bumblebee.

'Where are they?'

'Top drawer.'

'Which one?'

Bumblebee made a slight growl of frustration.

'Y'know Wheeljack you could at least thank us! We just wanted to help!'

'Well next time try asking me!' snapped Wheeljack.

'It was supposed to be a surprise!' argued the yellow Autobot.

Jazz leaned in close enough so that Ratchet could hear him. Ratchet looked over at Jazz curious at what he wanted.

'Five Energon cubes says Wheeljack wins!' whispered Jazz into the medical officers audio's.

'You're on!' whispered Ratchet, grinning as he looked back at the bickering Autobots.

Suddenly Optimus entered the room and walked up to the two Autobots until he stood between them. Jazz thought that things were now going to get interesting. Optimis was a little suprised to see Bumblebee and Wheeljack argue, they were two good friends and rarely fought with each other. He was used to seeing his men argue about small things and it didn't bother him unless it got serious. He tried to talk to Wheeljack, who didn't even realize he was there.

'Ummm, Wheeljack? I don't suppose you could...'

'IT'S CALLED APPRECIATION, I WAS TRYING TO HELP!' wailed Bumblebee.

'I DON'T CLEAN UP YOUR STUFF! WHY ME!?' howled Wheeljack.

'BECAUSE WHERE EVER THERES A MESS, YOU'RE BEHIND IT!'

Optimus looked back and forth between the two Autobots. Jazz snickered in the corner and Bluestreak tried to stop himself from laughing. Ratchet shook his head knowing that the two Autobots were going to get an audio-full later on. Prime just sighed and decided to break up the quarrel.

'Okay break it up you two!' he ordered.

'I'M NOT THE ONLY MESSY ONE HERE! YOU ALWAYS DIRTY THE FLOORS WHEN YOU COME BACK FROM PATROLS!'

'AT LEAST I TRY TO CLEAN IT UP!

Optimus growled in frustration. It figure that the two Autobots would ignore him. The other three Autobots just watched, expecting Prime to hit them on the heads.

'I said that's enough!' growled the Autobot leader.

The two Autobots ignored him and continued. Prime was starting to get angry and he started shouting.

'I TOLD YOU TWO TO STOP! NOW OBEY MY ORDERS!'

'YOU'RE UNGRATEFUL!' screamed Bumblebee.

'YOU'RE DISRESPECTFUL!' cried Wheeljack.

Prime suddenly felt an unusual urge within him. There were times when his men ignored him, but it was during jokes. The fact that his men were ignoring him now made the Autobot leader mad. Suddenly something within him sparked and he snarled.

'I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH!' he screamed.

Then without warning he hit both Wheeljack and Bumblebee across the chest, so hard that the two Autobots were flung across the room.

Both Carly and Spike looked up to see Wheeljack heading right for them and they both bolted out of the way just in time for Wheeljack to smash into a pile of his collection of oddities. Bumblebee hit the wall on the far side with such force he made a dent in the wall. He fell to the ground and whimpered in pain as the amour on his back had cracked opened to revel his circuits, that began sparking when he moved. Jazz's jaw dropped, Ratchet gaped in horror and Bluestreak just looked at Optimus in confusion. Optimus himself looked shocked at what he just did.

'Wheeljack! You okay man?' cried Jazz running over to Wheeljack, who was trying to pull himself out of a large box.

One of his arms had a large dent and his left optic had been shattered. On his chest where Prime had hit him was an even larger dent. Ratchet ran over to Bumblebee and helped him up. Looking at the damage on the smaller bots back he looked up at Prime, concerned with what he had just done.

'I'm taking him to the medical bay. Jazz can you bring Wheeljack?' he said calmly.

Jazz nodded and helped the mech to his feet. Prime just looked at both bots in horror. He would never hit one of his own men with such force, even his own men knew that.

'Prime? Are you OK?' asked Bluestreak, slowly walking up to his leader.

'I...I...I didn't mean...' stuttered Prime, looking at his fists.

Spike and Carly couldn't believe what they just witnessed. Optimus Prime would never hurt another machine out of frustration. They walked up to the Autobot leader, carefully, and saw the confusion in his optics. Even Prime didn't know what he just did.

'Prime, I think you better come to the medical bay too. You might have blown another circuit without realizing it.' suggested the Medical Officer.

Optimus nodded and followed the Autobots out the workshop. Whatever had happened to him, Prime wanted to make sure it never happened again.

_What is wrong with Prime? Is it something to do with that circuit? And what were those three scientists working on 14 million years ago? Find out next time!_


	2. Chapter 2

_What's happening to Prime?_

**Strange Dreams**

**_Cybertron: 14 Million Years Ago_**

_Within the secretive lab within the city slums, Alpha 5 was preparing to test their latest creation. They needed a test subject and Blowout had brought back a willingly subject. Mainstream frowned as the cocky mech looked at the device within Alpha 5's hand._

_'So this little thing is gonna make me a thousand times stronger? HA! My sensors tell me nothing!'_

_'Patience my friend, although it appears to be nothing out of the ordinary, there is more than meets the eye with this!' chuckled the confident Alpha 5._

_'Whatever, as long as I get my Energon, who gives a slag!' muttered the mech as he sat down and opened a panel in his head._

_As Alpha 5 proceeded with the test, Mainstream opened his vocal processor...but nothing came out. Deep within, he wanted to see the outcome of his hard work._

**_Earth: Present Day_**

Ratchet sighed as he removed Wheeljack's chest armor until his circuitry and mechanical parts were shown. He had to use caution in case he might damage the mech further, however Ratchet was programmed with the finest of Medical knowledge and he knew what he was doing. Examining the inside's of his friend he frowned with what he saw. The blow that Optimus Prime gave him almost crushed his Spark Housing Unit and a few of his circuits were damaged along with some snapped wires. Wheeljack was still on line and he looked down at his own body.

'Heh, I was all so well this morning!' he chuckled weakly.

Ratchet wasn't impressed and he glared over at Optimus, who was standing near the look of guilt within his blue optics. Optimus Prime may be his leader but Ratchet was a Medical Officer and there were times he had to scowl his superiors.

'What in the name of Primus were you thinking Prime?' he snapped, as he began connecting cables to Wheeljack's spark.

Prime suddenly looked up and for once was speechless. He didn't even know what he did and it scared him. He remembered the terrifying rage he felt when both Wheeljack and Bumblebee ignored him as they argued over a pitiful thing. The part he didn't want to remember was the part where he pounded both their chests, sending them flying and hurting them bad. He looked down at his feet, looking like a child too scared to tell his parent the truth.

'I...I don't know Ratchet...I just remember getting really...angry.' said the Autobot leader.

'So you lash out at your friends?' replied Ratchet harshly.

'Hey, hey Ratchet relax!' suddenly piped Wheeljack, raising his hand to rest on the medic's arm.

'How can I when he almost destroyed your Spark!' snapped Ratchet.

Optimus Prime's optics widen with shock. He almost killed Wheeljack? Ratchet was suddenly silent and he looked away as he continued to connect the cable to Wheeljack's spark. Out of a little frustration he almost destroyed a fellow Autobot. Optimus looked down at his friend. He had been in bad shape's before but not like this. Wheeljack's left optic was still shattered but Prime could see the light flickering behind it. Optimus placed a hand on Wheeljack's shoulder, not too tightly as it was still damaged.

'I am truly sorry Wheeljack...can you forgive me?' he said in a quiet and pitiful tone.

'Heh...I'm still functioning ain't I?' chuckled the scientist.

Ratchet had connected the cables to Wheeljack's spark. He had to temporally remove the spark so he could fix the Housing Unit, otherwise he might extinguish the spark for good. He leaned in closer to Wheeljack to inform him what was happening.

'OK Wheeljack, just gonna remove your spark for a little while, meaning you'll be offline for a bit. As soon as I fixed your Spark Housing Unit and put your Spark back in you'll be on line in on time!'

Wheeljack nodded and prepared for an early nap. Ratchet activated the machine and the cables began to slowly drain Wheeljack's life force. The vibrant, pulsing green light within Wheeljack traveled through the cable until it rested within a glass container, safe from harm. As the remainder of the spark left Wheeljack's body, the mechs optics flickered and darkened. Although his spark was gone he was still functioning but was lifeless as mindless drone. Ratchet removed the cable and began removing the, now empty, Spark Housing Unit. He looked up at Prime who was still standing there looking at Wheeljack with regret. Ratchet sighed, he had been a little too harsh on the mech.

'Optimus, why don't you go see how Perceptor is doing with Bumblebee. Wheeljack's gonna be fine.'

Optimus suddenly stood up. He had completely forgotten about his small yellow friend. He looked at Wheeljack one last time before striding to the next room where Bumblebee was lying on his chest on Preceptors operating table. Perceptor was using Jazz to help him remove the armor on Bumblebee's back. Apparently, he had already fixed Bumblebee's front.

'Now Bumblebee, you may feel a tingle.' warned the Microscope as he gave the signal to Jazz to tear the thing off.

Jazz pulled back hard and the sound off twisting metal made all the bots in the room grimace. Bumblebee howled in pain and grumbled when Jazz started swinging his back armor in his face with a grin.

'Thought you said it would tingle!' muttered the yellow Autobot.

Jazz snickered as he handed the armor to Perceptor who went over to his desk to repair the damage.

'On the brighter side lil Bumblebee, it was just your outer shell that was damaged! Everything on the inside is A-Okay!' informed Jazz.

Bumblebee sighed.

'Now I know how Megatron feels.' he grumbled.

Bumblebee then heard footsteps and looked up, surprised to see Optimus there and a little embarrassed that he had heard what he had said. He saw the guilt in his leader's optics and regret poured in the Autobots mainframe. He meant it has a joke but he had a feeling that Optimus didn't see it like that. Trying to calm the mood he changed the subject.

'Hey Prime what do you think? Solar gold or Neon yellow?' asked Bumblebee, letting his leader decide on a new coat for his body.

Optimus walked up to him and sighed. He felt like an idiot, what kind of leader would hurt his own men. He shuddered at the thought of becoming Megatron. Only that evil machine would do something like this...only a Decepticon would do this. He had shamed the Autobot name and because of it he had hurt two good friends. He kneeled down until he was level with Bumblebee.

'I am really sorry little friend. I don't blame you if you never forgive me.'

'It's OK Prime! Really! I barely felt a thing!' lied Bumblebee, trying to make Prime feel better, but it wasn't working.

Perceptor returned with the back armor and began to weld it on Bumblebee's back. The little Autobot began laughing as the experience tickled his nerve circuits. As he worked, Perceptor looked up a Prime.

'Optimus sir, I would like to take a look at you after I am done with this. Maybe you just blew a circuit or maybe that new one is acting up.'

Optimus nodded and sat down in the corner, waiting for the Microscope to finish. The only noise in the room was the sparks off Perceptors wielding gun and Bumblebee laughing. Optimus looked down at his feet and didn't realize that Jazz was standing over him.

'You OK Prime?' he asked.

Optimus looked up to see Jazz's visor staring back at him. Jazz had known Prime for a long time and it did hurt him to see him like this. However the Porsche did know Optimus for a very long time and this was the first time he saw the Autobot leader do something like this. Jazz sat down next to Prime and thought of what to say. Prime just stared at Bumblebee with gloomy optics.

'Hey Prime, why don't you power down for a bit? Perceptor's gonna take a while if lil Bumblebee keeps laughing like that!' suggested Jazz, presuming the rest might clear the troubles from Prime's circuits.

Prime thought it might helped and thanked Jazz for the advice. As Optimus Prime powered himself down, he hoped that what had happened today was just a disappear from his memory banks.

* * *

Prime's optics flickered on and he sat up. He didn't realize he had been out that long and looked up. He was still in Perceptor's lab but both the scientist and the injured Bumblebee had gone. He looked to his left and was surprised that even Jazz had gone. He stood up a bit confused, why would they leave him there like that? Even though Prime had done something stupid they wouldn't leave him alone. Optimus looked round and felt like something was different, the base was too quiet. He would be able to hear the hum and clicks of the computers but he heard nothing. He could hear a pin drop if he wanted to, it was that quiet. He left the lab and walked out into the corridor expecting to see some of the Autobots walking around. Like the lab the corridors of the Ark were deathly silent, not one Autobot to be seen. They all couldn't be out on patrol and besides they would had informed Optimus if they were going somewhere. Worried Optimus headed for the control room to ask Teletraan-1 where everyone was. As he walked he looked round wildly to see if any of the Autobots were hiding. He saw nothing and he soon began to sprint to the control room, in a panic. Bursting in he ran up to Teletraan-1. 

'Teletraan-1! Where is everyone?' he demanded.

For a while Teletraan-1 said nothing, and then he began to utter a low, dark chuckle. Optimus stood back, sensing that something was horribly wrong. Before he could re-ask his query an unusual phenomena happened. Black, slimy, tentacle like things suddenly shot out of Teletraan-1's screen and rapidly wrapped themselves around Prime. Shocked and horrified, Optimus tried to rip them off but the more he struggled the more the coiled around his joints. Soon Optimus couldn't even move and he found himself being dragged towards the screen. Optimus tried to free himself but the tentacles were too strong, completely binding him. Soon Optimus found himself right in front of the screen where something was trying to come out. Whatever it was it made the Autobot leader suddenly afraid. It was like a black shadow, dark red eyes covered in black flames, snarling as it dragged itself out of the screen until it stood in front of Optimus. It was about Prime's height, in fact the shape of his body was similar to the Autobot leaders own. Whatever it was it began to chuckle at his captive and grabbed his head, forcing Optimus to look at his eyes. When he spoke, his voice made Optimus Audio Receptors ache and his body shake, almost in fear.

'Sooooooooooooon...yooooooouu...wiilll...deeeestrooy...everyoooneeeeee...!' it growled.

Then it covered Prime's optics with it's hand and Prime panicked when he felt tiny tentacles trying to crack through his optics. He shook, struggled and fought the might of the alien presence but nothing availed. He howled in pain when the tentacles broke through his optics and began invading his circuitry. It was like getting rip apart bit by bit from the inside. The black shadow chuckled.

'Dooooooooooo...noooooooott...reeesiiist...Priiiimee...! Giiiiiiivee...iintoooooo...thheeee...raaaaageee...!'

Prime shook his body, trying to fight the pain but it was almost unbearable.

'NO!' he screamed.

* * *

'Prime? Prime? You OK buddy?' 

Prime suddenly found himself on the floor in Perceptor's lab. He wasn't covered in the black tentacles and there was no shadow standing over him. Looking up he saw Jazz, Bumblebee and Perceptor looking down at him with concern. Prime sat up and looked around, confused with what had happened.

'Wha- wasn't I in the control room just now?' he asked.

'Prime, you've been here the whole time! You just suddenly fell to the ground screaming NO!' informed Bumblebee.

Optimus stood up and looked around. He could hear the computers and he could hear Autobots from other rooms, but he could had sworn what he saw was almost real. He couldn't forget that shadow, that dark and evil presence that tried to assault him. Jazz gave him a pat on the back.

'You sure you're OK Prime?' he asked.

At that moment Spike walked into the room to see how Bumblebee was doing. He was glad to see his friend was now OK but was confused why they were suddenly crowding around Optimus Prime.

'Hey guys! What's wrong?' he asked.

The group looked at him.

'Prime thought he was in Teletraan-1'a control room but he's been here the whole time powered down!' replied Bumblebee.

Spike cocked his head to the side.

'Was it a dream?'

'What's a dream?' asked Perceptor, who never heard of the word.

Spike scratched his head, it wasn't going to be easy to explain this.

'Well when a human gets all these thoughts into their heads and when the human falls asleep, those thoughts play around in their heads making images. That's what we call a dream.'

Perceptor looked confused, as did Bumblebee, Optimus Prime and Jazz. They never experienced something like that and if they wanted to look at their thoughts they collected they would just access their memory banks. Spike chuckled nervously.

'Well that's the logical side of it. Other people say that they're signs or something.'

Prime thought to himself. Did he have a dream? Was it a sign? That shadow felt real and the pain he felt seemed real enough, his optics still felt like they had been shattered. It couldn't have been a stray thought in his circuits. He was interrupted by his thinking by Perceptor.

'Come now Prime, let's have a look at your circuits.' he said ushering Prime to a chair.

Prime sat down and allowed the scientist to look at his circuits. perceptor examined the back of Prime's head and saw the circuit everyone was talking about. It was a strange colour and Perceptor never saw a circuit like it. However his sensors said there was nothing special about but decided to look at it closely. He gently pulled at it but was a little surprised how hard it was to pull out. It was almost like it didn't want to come out. Prime winced as Perceptor had to yank it out hard.

'Sorry sir.' he said.

Perceptor studied it by transforming into his microscope mode and placing it under his lens. The design definitely was strange and perceptor saw wirings that didn't make any sense. However the readings were still the same, it was a blank circuit and there was nothing special about it. He transformed and gently pushed it back inside Prime's head, a little surprised as the circuit almost moved by itself as he slotted it in. Perceptor figured he had a glitch in his optics and began to search his leaders other circuits. It took a long time but Perceptor had given his leader a good looking at. There was nothing wrong with him. He had come to the conclusion that Prime must had been in mind of frustration at the time, however Ratchet wasn't happy with the report.

'Are you sure you checked everything?' asked the medic.

'I checked every wire, he's fine. He must had been stressed at the time.' replied Perceptor.

'How? He was fine this morning!' complained Jazz

All the Autobots weren't happy with the report. Even if Prime was stressed he would never hit a fellow Autobot and almost kill him. To be sure Prime ordered both Perceptor and Ratchet to take a look at him. Six hours later and the results were the same, he was fine. Optimus sighed as Perceptor said again that Prime had to have been stressed at the time. None of the Autobots were convinced and began to think that their leader must had a glitch or something. prime himself wasn't happy with the results either, plus he was still thinking about that crazy thing he experienced. Trying to get it all out of his circuits he went to visit Wheeljack. His Spark Housing Unit had been repaired and his Spark was back in his body. He was to remain on the recharge berth until Ratchet was happy he was well enough to walk on his own again. Prime saw him sitting up on the recharge berth, cables connecting to his recharge ports and his optic and arm repaired. Wheeljack looked up and, even though Prime couldn't see his face, he seemed to smile.

'Hey Prime! I'm as good as new!' he chuckled.

Prime was glad to hear and he sat down next to him.

'I am really sorry about this Wheeljack. I know this is not the place right now but I need a favor.'

Wheeljack straighted up.

'Shoot.' he replied.

'I want you to fix my old personality circuit...this one you gave me...it's giving me the creeps.'

Wheeljack optics widened. He thought his circuits were playing around with him but obviously he wasn't the only one and he suddenly regretted giving Optimus the circuit.

'You too?'

Prime looked up in confusion.

'What do you mean?'

'Well I thought it was kinda creepy looking and weird but my sensors told me nothing was wrong...'

'WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!' snarled Prime, so suddenly it made Wheeljack fall of the recharge berth in shock.

He fell to the floor and winced when he felt the pain on contact with the cold floor. Looking up he saw Optimus standing over him and Wheeljack saw rage in his optics. The mech felt a little afraid when Optimus suddenly picked him up by his recently repaired arm and glared at him. Wheeljack's feet had left the floor and the mech panicked.

'Op-Optimus! Calm down!' he cried.

After a moment Prime's circuits flashed and he looked at Wheeljack in confusion. He suddenly placed Wheeljack down and stood back in complete confusion not even realizing what he had done. Wheeljack stepped closer and saw that Prime's optics were filled with fear. Then the door opened and Ratchet walked in, a little angry to see Wheeljack standing up.

'Wheeljack, you're supposed to be resting!'

'Sorry! I just felt like getting up!'

'I'm the medic, you're not! Now get back on the recharge berth!'

Wheeljack hopped back on and Ratchet walked up to Optimus wondering what was wrong. Optimus waved a hand to tell Ratchet he wanted to drop it and walked off. As he approached the door Wheeljack called out to him.

'Hey Prime! Once I'm all better, I'll fix your circuit!'

Prime looked back and said nothing. He left the room completely lost. He almost hurt Wheeljack again even after he promised himself it wouldn't happen again. He could only hope that Wheeljack would get better soon.

_Oh dear! Trust me in the next chapter you're gonna hate me! I'm soooo sorry Prime!_


	3. Chapter 3

_It's now gonna get worse._

**A Scary Transformation**

**_Cybertron: 14 million years ago_**

_'WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!'_

_Mainstream was hiding behind one of the computer mainframe controls as the havoc exploded behind him. He heard glass smashing and metal twisting and the screams of his fellow scientists. Looking over slightly he saw the monster was ripping Alpha 5's arm off. Alpha 5 was screaming as his arm was hanging from his side by just a few mere wires and cables. The creature then used his other arm to completely cover Alpha 5's head and he began to slowly crush it. Mainstream whimpered as he heard Alpha 5's muffled screaming and then nothing. The monster threw the body to the side and howled an alien scream. A scream that sent chills down the poor mechs back. Mainstream bolted for the door and ran out into the dark slums of Cybertron, not daring to look back. After running for what seemed like ages he looked back. In the darkness behind him he heard a terrifying distant roar._

_'What have we done?'_

**_Earth: Present Day_**

A week had passed since the incident with Wheeljack and Bumblebee but no one had forgotten about it. It was still the hot topic for Autobot gossip. However even though some Autobots talked about it a lot there were some who were angered at the others for continuing to bring it up. Prowl was one of them and he just stumbled on Huffer and Gears who were still talking about.

'I thought I made it quite clear that no one was to talk about the incident again!' he snapped.

'S-sorry Prowl. It's just that we still can't believe that Prime would...'

'I SAID DROP IT!'

Huffer and Gears left Prowl in a hurry, not wanting to feel his wrath. Prowl sighed and placed his hand on his brow. Even Jazz, one of his most trusted friends, had told him what happened but he still couldn't believe it. He had known Optimus Prime even before the war and he would never lash out at someone in frustration. It had to have been a mistake. However he had seen the security camera's recordings and seen the damage to both Bumblebee and Wheeljack thus was forced to believe that what everyone had been saying was true. Also another rumour was floating around that Optimus had threated Wheeljack while he was in the med bay, but that seemed illogical as well. Prowl made his way back to his office and decided to do some quiet thinking. Along the way he saw Prime walking down the corridor.

'Hey Prime!' greeting his old friend.

However Prime ignored him and continued walking until he was out of sight. Prowl sighed again, it wasn't just affecting the morale of the Autobots but it was affecting their leader too. Apparently the whole thing had upsetted him and confused him, he didn't even know what he had done. Prowl then decided to see Wheeljack in his workshop. He had made a full recovery and was working on something that he regarded as top priority. As Prowl approached the workshop door he heard Wheeljack mumbling to himself.

'This would be so much easier if no one had moved all my tools!'

Prowl chuckled slightly but made sure he had a stern face as he entered the room. Inside Wheeljack was indeed working on something and he had his full attention on it as he didn't even acknowledge Prowl walk in. Wheeljack was sitting at his desk his back hunched over, not noticing as Prowl leaned over slightly to see what he was doing. However Wheeljack finally noticed him and jumped slightly with surprise.

'Prowl? When did you get here?' he asked.

'Sorry Wheeljack, I just came to say hi. What are you working on anyway? It better not be something that's gonna give the Ark a new window.'

'Oh no, no. I'm repairing Prime's old personality circuit. He blew it a week ago and he wants it fixed.'

Prowl looked at the circuit that was on the worktop. It was an old one, possible Prime's first one. It did seem a bit strange that Wheeljack would be repairing such an ancient model.

'Why does he want it repaired?' asked Prowl.

Normally when an Autobot blew a circuit they would replace it with a new one. He knew, he had done it before with one of his nerve circuits. It seemed strange Prime wanted his old one fixed. Wheeljack worked away as he answered the police cars question.

'Well you see I only had this blank circuit at the time since I couldn't find where I usually kept my spares and it gave him the creeps. So he asked me to repair it and here I am. Unfortunately it's taking longer than planned since someone moved all my tools!' sighed the scientist.

Prowl had never heard of anyone getting the creeps from a circuit before. Then again it seemed like the only reason why Prime was acting like he was right now. Maybe it was because of the circuit. Wheeljack must had realized what he was thinking for he shook his head and said,

'I checked the circuit he's using right now and it's fine. No bugs or glitch's it's fine.'

Prowl sighed and lowered his head. What was wrong with Optimus Prime?

* * *

Jazz was trying to ignore the twins who were trying to grab his attention. Since he, Ratchet, Bumblebee, Wheeljack and Bluestreak were the ones who saw what had happened they were begging for info. Ratchet wouldn't give them squat, Bumblebee and Wheeljack didn't want to talk about it, Bluestreak was still freaked out by it and Jazz had no intention of going around and making Prime look like the bad guy. 

'C'mon Jazz! Tell us!' moaned Sideswipe, tugging at Jazz's arm.

'No means no! Now why don't you do something useful instead of standing around filling your mainframes with junk!' snapped Jazz.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker sighed and left the room, hoping to find Bluestreak. Jazz shook his head in disappointment. Then he chuckled a little.

'Heh, I almost sounded like Prowl back there!' he snickered.

There was a knock at the door and Jazz saw Optimus Prime standing in the doorway. A look of sadness in his optics. It was almost terrible to see the proud leader of the Autobots act like this and it almost made Jazz upset, however he wasn't going to look like that in front of a friend who needed help.

'Hey Prime, what can I do for ya?' he asked cheerfully.

Optimus walked in and sighed. He then slumped in a chair and lowered his head. Jazz could see he was upset about something. He wouldn't be surprised if he was still upset about what happened with Bumblebee and Wheeljack or it might have been the fact that now everyone within the base knew about it. Optimus sighed and looked up at Jazz.

'Jazz...I almost hurt someone today again.' he said in a low tone.

Jazz jumped slightly.

'Who?' he asked quickly.

Optimus dropped his head again, almost in shame.

'Ironhide, he demanded to know what happened that day. You know what he's like, always wanting to know everyone's side of the story. I told him I wanted to drop it but he kept asking. I suddenly got the urge to...I almost pictured myself...'

He looked up at Jazz and the look in his Optics made the Porsche walk back in fear.

'...crushing his head in my hands.' snarled Prime, his tone now very different.

'P-prime? Are you OK?' asked Jazz.

Optimus just realized what he said and looked away. Jazz realized his sensors were on high alert, which only happened if he felt threated. The way Prime said he wanted to crush Ironhide's head made the mech feel like there was something evil in his leaders presence. He had never seen Prime act like this and it was truly beginning to scare him. Almost as bad as he feared Megatron's evil. However it was also scaring Optimus. The leader of the Autobots stood up and began to leave the room.

'Optimus, wait!' cried Jazz.

'I-I need some time alone.' muttered Optimus, not looking back.

As he left Jazz frowned. He had heard about this circuit that Prime was using while Wheeljack was repairing his old one and it sounded like bad news. He left his quarters and began looking for Prowl. They needed to talk.

* * *

Optimus walked down the corridors deep in thought. He didn't know what to do until Wheeljack fixed his old circuit. He would had removed it ages ago but it would strain his mainframe if he used it for his personality functions. Also if he shut down his personalty functions he would crash his memory banks and be as lifeless as a drone. As he walked he noticed some Autobots talking to each other. As Prime got closer they noticed and they suddenly walked off in different directions, trying to avoid him. Prime felt grief swept over him and he continued walking back to his quarters. Then he felt a chill and that dark feeling he felt before swept through him. 

'Maaaaaaaaaaakeeeeeee...theeeeeeeeeemm...paaaaaaaaaayy...! Unleeeesss...yoooooouurrr...raaaageeee...!'

Prime jumped and looked round. No one was around but he defiantly heard a voice, it felt like it was right near his audio receptor. He continued walking but he felt like he was sinking back into that dark sensation. Then suddenly everything went dark. He looked round and then he saw something move, which seemed impossible since it was completely dark. However Prime could make out a dark, shadowy figure walking up to him, an evil malice surrounding it. What scared Prime the most was that it almost looked like him. Trying not to show his fear he spoke.

'Who are you?' he demanded.

The shadow thing laughed and stepped closer. Prime didn't budge, he refused to be toyed with by some shadow. Soon the creature was face to face with him and Prime could see the evil and rage dancing within it's red optics. The shadow finally spoke.

'You and I are the same Prime. I am the hate, the cruelty, the evil and the rage that you buried long ago. I have existed for a very long time deep within your mainframe, always allowing you to be good and just, never letting you free your true form. Ever since you became a warrior I grew and grew. Your hatred for the Megatron and the Decepticons, your lust to see them destroyed has been my fuel that has allowed me to exist but I never surfaced, you always have been fair Prime. But now I have surfaced and now it's time for you to realize what you really are!'

Optimus stood back a little. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. How could he and this thing be the same? He glared at the shadow angered and insulted, somehow the shadow knew what he was feeling and it laughed even louder.

'That's it, let it all out. Why don't you destroy these worthless Autobots? You could take out the Decepticon army all by yourself. Admit it Prime, they are holding you back!'

Prime almost swung his fist at the thing but refused to let his anger get the better of him.

'I will never hurt my friends!' he shouted.

The shadow snorted at this and gave him a dark glare.

'Oh really? What about that small yellow midget and that doofus who blows things up? Don't try to hide it, you can't stand either of them!' he growled.

Optimus tried to say something, but he couldn't get it out. The shadow chuckled.

'And what about those humans? Always getting you into trouble. And what about that Bluestreak, always so reckless and annoying. Don't forget about Prowl and Jazz, I wouldn't be surprised if those two were plotting something behind your back!'

'SHUT UP AND GO AWAY!' cried Prime, trying to block out the words by covering his audio processors.

'Prime? Are you OK?' said a new voice.

Optimus was suddenly back in the Ark standing next to Hound, a look of worry on his face. Optimus looked round almost expecting to see that monster like thing to appear and torment him further. He didn't believe, no, he didn't want to believe that that thing was all his rage and anger stored up inside him demanding to be released. Hound placed a hand on his leaders shoulder.

'Are you OK? I saw you just a second ago and you look like you were in pain. You need me to take you to see Ratchet?' asked the Autobot soldier.

Optimus shook his head and walked off.

'I'm fine Hound, thanks. I just need a rest.' sighed the Autobot leader, leaving Hound alone.

Optimus decided to talk to Prowl, he had to be instructed what to do if the worst should happen. If Prime were to do something like that again he would never forgive himself, he refused to let this thing get the better of him. As he got closer to Prowl's room he heard voices. He recognized Prowl's and the other appeared to be Jazz. They were talking in serious tones and seemed to be secretive about it. Prime wasn't nosy but deep down something told him to listen. He stood near the entrance of the door and tuned his audio processors into the conversation.

'I'm tellin ya Prowl. Optimus told me himself that he almost wanted to hurt Ironhide!' said Jazz.

'Are you certain? This isn't like Prime, not at all.' muttered Prowl.

'Did ya know about this circuit he's got inside him? He's been acting all funny ever since he put it in!'

'Yes I have but Wheeljack told me there was nothing wrong with it. However given the current circumstances it seems to be the only good reason why he's acting like this.'

'Well why don't we remove it?'

'We can't until Wheeljack has fixed his old one. Plus we don't even know if it is that damm thing but until we're sure, we better keep an optic on him. If he does something like that again...we might have to...restrain him.'

'Prowl you can't be serious man! This is Prime, our leader, we're talking about!'

'But what if he does it again? I'm just saying if he tries something like it in the future we have to consider retraining him until Wheeljack and Ratchet have replaced the circuit and give his mainframe a clean sweep. I want to remove that chip as much as you do and get the old Prime back but Wheeljack can't find any spares and it would strain his mainframe. However we don't even know if it is the chip, he might have glitch or something, Ratchet probably didn't see it. Until he does you have to be on this with me Jazz, I don't like it either but we have no choice.'

Jazz was silent. He didn't want to minty against his leader and friend, it was all wrong. But what if Prime did hurt someone again? He looked up at Prowl and gave him a small nod.

'Fine...but only if he threatens someone. He's been fine so far.'

Prowl nodded in agreement.

'Alright let's go and have a word with Ratchet. I think he should know.'

As the two mechs left the room, Prowl suddenly had a very bad feeling. He couldn't help but think something was wrong as he left the room. He suddenly sensed that Jazz had halted next to him. Looking up at his friend he saw that he was staring at something behind Prowl, a look of complete fear on his face, he wasn't moving an inch.

'Jazz? What's wrong?' asked the police car.

Prowl followed Jazz's gaze and almost fell down with shock. Standing directly beside him near the entrance of his room was Optimus Prime. He was glaring at both of them, his hand clenched into a fist on the wall, bending the metal into a twisted form. Prowl could feel the anger and hate pouring off him and it scared him greatly. Prime took a step forward and Prowl took a step back until he was backed up against Jazz, who was still frozen on the spot. He was almost expecting Prime to attack him but instead the Autobot leader growled at him and stomped off. Prowl almost fell to the floor when Jazz finally moved, completely shocked at the whole event. The mechs looked at each other, almost guilty with what they had said to each other.

* * *

Prime marched down the corridors of Ark, clearly angry. The Autobots he passed noticed it and almost jumped back in fear. Mirage was the only one who dared ask him what was wrong. He stood in front of Prime's path but Prime wasn't stopping.

'Prime? Are you OK buddy?'

What Prime did next made the Autobots gasp in shock and horror. Prime whacked Mirage out the way and continued marching down the corridor. Hound ran over to Mirage and was shocked to see that the force Prime had hit him with was strong enough to knock Mirage's arm clean off his body. Mirage sat up and winced in pain. Soon Prowl and Jazz appeared and gaped at the scene before them.

'What happened?' demanded Jazz.

'Prime was walking down the corridor and all Mirage did was ask him what was wrong!' answered Cliffjumper, as he helped Mirage to his feet.

'What the slag has got into Prime?' snarled Gears.

Prowl suddenly knew what he had to do. He ran off, following Prime's energy trail, determined to try and convince the Autobot leader to calm down. As he ran he saw that Blaster was pressed against the wall with a giant dent on the metal wall right next to him. He seemed completely shocked and Huffer was trying to help him out.

'What happened Blaster?' asked Huffer trying to shake Blaster out of it.

'I-I...I just asked him he needed a hand...and he almost hit me...really hard...oh man I haven't done anything wrong have I?' whimpered the red boombox.

Prowl ran even faster and his sensors told him that he was close. Looking up he saw Prime near the entrance of the base, apparently he was planning on leaving. Prowl called out to him.

'Prime, wait a minute!' he shouted.

Prime turned and glared at him. Prowl almost jumped back when he saw his leader's optics. They weren't the blue colour that Autobots had and they weren't the red colour that Decepticons had. They were a dark red that sent chills down Prowl's back. At that moment Bumblebee appeared, driving in the base with Spike and Carly. the humans hopped out of the yellow car and Bumblebee transformed, surprised to see Optimus standing near the base entrance. As he walked up to him, Prowl panicked.

'Bumblebee, stay back!' warned the police car.

Before Bumblebee could heed the warning, Prime grabbed the small Autobot and flung him onto Prowl. Bumblebee cried out as he and Prowl were attacked with such force they found themselves hitting the wall of the far end very hard. Prowl moaned in pain and slumped to the floor with Bumblebee ontop of him. He had no idea Prime was this strong. Then he heard Carly scream and looking up he was horrified to see Spike and Carly backed up against the wall with Prime towering over them raising his foot, intending to crush them. Bumblebee saw too and cried out,

'Prime, NO!'

Prowl, without thinking, fired his blaster at his leader. Optimus cried out as the blast hit his leg and fell back, giving the humans time to escape. Optimus glared at Prowl and snarled before transforming and began to head in his direction at full speed. The Autobots scrambled to get out the way, just in time as Prime hit the wall they were near with terrifying force. Prowl watched in horror as Prime back up and drove out the base at full speed. Prowl tried to follow but the hit Prime gave him had knocked his transforming cog out of place.

'Prime! Wait! We can help!' he shouted.

But he was too late. Prime had already vanished from sight leaving the Autobots leaderless and confused.

_Oh no. In the next chapter the Decepticons get involved so stay tuned!_


	4. Chapter 4

**

* * *

A Bad Situation**

**_Cybertron: 14 million years ago_**

_Mainstream sighed as he sat in his cell. It was dark and quiet, the only sound was the distance footsteps of the prison guards as they patrolled the Detention Block, keeping law and order. The only privilege that the condemned mech was given was his small computer that he was using to record and use for his small interests. It was his duty as a scientist to record his research whether they'd be good or bad. He began to type in the dark,_

_'The device was a failure, instead of making the subject stronger it makes them...mad and angry. Their rage completely takes over and they lose their sanity. It was supposed to help the Elite Guard of Cybertron and make our armies stronger but it all went wrong. My colleagues are dead and I had no choice but to alert the authorities. It took them a while but they destroyed the monstrosity but the chip was confiscated. I have been arrested and imprisoned for eternity for my crimes. I have no idea what they have done with the chip but I pray to Primus that no one uses it. I shall remain here and repent for my crimes. I only hope that the chip will be destroyed and that is my only desired. Forgive me Primus, I have created a monster.'_

**_Earth: Present_**

The Autobots sat in the conference room all silent. The mood was dull and they all had grim faces. The events that had taken place had shaken their morale and left them confused and clueless. Their leader, Optimus Prime, had gone mad with rage and left the base in a violent fit. He had hurt Mirage, almost damaged Blaster, attacked both Prowl and Bumblebee and almost killed Carly and Spike. Prime was now a threat to the Autobots but not just them. He was out there among the humans and who knew what he might do in his current state of mind. The only clue they had with what went wrong was a mysterious circuit that Optimus had replaced a few days ago. Although all three scientist claimed they found nothing wrong, they soon began to think it was now the only good explanation. Prowl sat where Prime usually sat on the conference table, with their leader gone he had taken charge. He sighed as he began to inform the Autobots with what had happened.

'Autobots, today our leader, Optimus Prime, has gone into...a violent change of mind. He now lashes out at anything that makes him angry and we believe it has something to do with a circuit that Optimus had replaced with his old personality circuit. We have to act fast if we are to help him.'

'How do ya propose we do that?' growled Ironhide.

'We have to find him before he hurts anyone. I sent Sky Fire out to find him, Optimus was low on Energon before he left so if he stays on his Energon Trail he should find him worn out. Then he could return to base under strict watch until we...'

'Wait! We gonna imprison him?' cried Brawn, shocked that even Prowl would consider such a thing.

The Autobots knew Optimus had now become a major threat but they couldn't even see themselves chaining him up like a wild beast. He may be sick or something but it didn't change the fact that Prime was still their friend. However Prowl was firm with his decision.

'You got a better idea? It's for his own good! He's a danger to us, the people of Earth and to himself, we have to restrain him at all costs!'

Jazz lowered his head and sighed.

'It's the only option we have guys and I know Prime would want us to do this as well. We have no choice.'

The Autobots looked at each other with glum faces. Jazz and Prowl were right, they had no choice. Spike was also present at the meeting, Carly was in another room, she needed to sit down after what had happened with them and Prime. Spike was concerned with his Autobot friend, he couldn't believe that something like this would happen to Optimus Prime. He was always so kind and friendly and seeing him like that was so wrong. However there was another worry that Spike and the Autobots had. What if Prime did wear himself out and what if the Decepticons saw him? The evil machines and eternal foes of the Autobots had been quiet but that usually meant they were planning something. As the Autobots waited for word from Sky Fire, they prayed to Primus that he would find their leader safe and sound, and hopefully he would be low on Energon.

* * *

There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the weather was perfect in the desert below the Decepticon leader. However the beautiful day was of no concern to him, it could be raining, it could be hailing, he didn't care. The planet Earth was just an energy fountain to him. Megatron the leader of the Decepticons only cared about that endless energy the organic planet produced and he didn't give a damm how good or bad the weather was. Megatron, the three Seekers and Soundwave were heading for a power plant, they were low on Energon and were planning to raid the human energy supply. Thankfully Megatron wasn't in a foul mood but he was angry when Starscream began to talk about the Autobots. 

'Megatron what if the Autobots attack us? We always manage to get away with only half the cubes we make when they come and spoil our plans!' snarled the red Seeker.

'Silent Starscream! We are going to approach this with stealth so the Autobots won't be alerted so suddenly. Now just be quiet or I'll make you regret it!' snapped Megatron, glaring at his not-so-loyal soldier.

Starscream growled and continued flying. Megatron hated it when Starscream tried to interfere with his plans, he was always trying to sneak his way into becoming the leader of the Decepticons when he clearly had no chance. He couldn't led a pack of mindless, obedient drones if he wanted to. Starscream only craved power but craving power wasn't enough, Starscream had much to learn. Thundercracker snickered.

'Heh, Starscream would run away the moment he heard the Autobots were coming!' chuckled the blue Seeker.

'I would not you spineless pile of slag!' snarled Starscream.

'Oh yeah? You would when you see...'

'OPTIMUS PRIME?' suddenly interrupted Soundwave.

'Exactly Soundwave! The moment Optimus Prime shows up, Starscream runs for his life!' jeered Skywarp.

'NO. I MEAN OPTIMUS PRIME IS RIGHT BELOW US!'

Megatron halted in mid-air and turned to face Soundwave as did the other Seekers. At first he thought Soundwave was pulling his leg but Soundwave had also stopped in mid-air and he was looking down. Megatron followed his gaze and was surprised to see a his eternal foe, Optimus Prime, staggering through the desert below. He looked exhausted and seemed to be trying to get away from something. The sight was strange to the Decepticons, they had never seen Optimus Prime alone and extremely low on Energon, their sensors told them so. The Seekers looked at each other confused.

'Why the slag is Optimus Prime out here by himself?' asked Skywarp.

'How should I know?' snapped Starscream, just as confused as the rest of the Decepticons.

They all looked to Megatron waiting for an order, but he was also confused with the situation. He had known Prime for 9 million years and he knew how he thinked and how he acted. This was out of the ordinary, Prime would never walk around by himself while dangerously low on Energon without a fellow Autobot. Was it a trick? A trap to lure the Decepticons to him so that the Autobots could surprise them? He watched as Optimus staggered around on the desert floor before finally collapsing onto his chest. This also surprised the Decepticons and they continued to wait for orders from their leader. Megatron scanned the Autobot leader to see that he was still, but barely, functioning. He also detected that something was out of the ordinary but he ignored it. He looked towards Starscream.

'Starscream, go down and investigate!' he ordered.

'W-what? Why me?' quivered Starscream, not wanting to go near the Autobot leader.

'Because I ordered it you fool! NOW GO!'

Starscream made a low growl but obeyed. Thundercracker and Skywarp snickered as Starscream began his slow descent to the fallen Autobot. Megatron and Soundwave just watched as Starscream landed near Optimus Prime and waited for something to happen. Starscream was scared as he approached the leader of the Autobots. For some reason, even though the threat was weak, Starscream was just as scared as he always was around Optimus Prime. It was like there was some kind of dark and terrifying presence around him, trying to scare him. Starscream almost laughed at himself, he didn't believe in anything so illogical. However he felt an alien presence and it scared him. He was now standing over Optimus Prime, who seemed to be in great pain. He made small moans of pain as if he was fighting a disease and trying to stay alive. Trying to make himself look good he kicked the Autobot, but almost jumped back when Optimus tried to look up. His optics were flashing blue and dimming due to the lack of Energon. He seemed to be trying to say something but he was too weak. Looking around, Starscream detected no presence of any other Autobot. He looked back up to Megatron and the rest of the Decepticons.

'Megatron it is safe, he is too weak to even talk!' cried Starscream.

The Decepticons descended and landed near the Autobot leader. They all looked round expecting to see an Autobot suddenly appear but there was none. Megatron marched over to the fallen Autobot and knelt down. Prime seemed to be struggling to stay on line for some reason. If he shut down he would be able to slowly recharge and recover but he didn't want to it seemed. He grabbed Prime's head and brought up to his so they were face to face.

'What is the meaning of this Prime? Why are you here alone?' snarled Megatron.

Optimus couldn't talk as well as he could but Megatron made out a few words.

'Sta...Stay...ba...ba...ba...ck...I...im...implore...you...get...away.'

Megatron was almost shocked to hear these words. In fact he felt insulted that the one machine he had been fighting all these many years, the one who prevented his plans for total universal domination and was his greatest threat was now almost begging him to stay away. Megatron snarled and stood back up, kicking Prime over till he was flat on his back. Thundercracker snickered as Optimus suddenly moaned in pain at the attack. However that small cry of pain was replaced with a growl that even made Megatron jump back. The Decepticons were shocked that Prime was now trying to get up when he was clearly to exhausted to do so. Optimus forced himself onto his feet and glared at the Decepticons with dark, red optics. Megatron had never seen such optics and he actually felt afraid when he saw them. Starscream almost found himself hiding behind his leader.

'Megatron, do something!' he shrieked.

Megatron almost forgot what he was doing but he raised his Fusion Cannon up until it was aiming straight at Prime's chest where his precious spark laid within. Optimus didn't seem to care his life was in danger and tried to advance towards the Decepticons, very slowly but menacely. Megatron almost hated himself when he actually showed concern for the Autobot leader, still advancing towards him.

'You fool Prime! You'll kill yourself!' he snarled.

Prime ignored him and continued to advance. However Soundwave had managed to get behind the now dangerous Autobot and fired his blaster at the threat. Optimus fell forward onto one knee, howling in pain but he looked back up at Megatron and snarled. He tried to lunge at the Decepticon leader but Megatron swung a fist with such force it knocked Prime out cold. For a moment the Decepticons watched Optimus Prime's still body, he was still alive but almost out of Energon. They watched almost expecting him to get back up and act all crazy again. Then they looked at each other, still confused.

'Is this really Optimus Prime?' asked Skywarp.

'It has to be...but I've never seen him act like this before!' replied Starscream.

Megatron glared at the fallen Autobot leader. He saw anger and rage in his optics before he knocked him out. Prime was never like that on the battlefield, he was always calm and alert, not angry and viscous. Also he wondered why the leader of the Autobots was out here by himself without a body-guard. The Autobots cared for each other so much it was enough to make him sick. He looked back at his Decepticons.

'Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp! I want you to take Optimus Prime back to Decepticon HQ. Restrain and don't let him try anything!' he ordered.

The Seekers almost jumped back in fear. After what they had just seen they didn't want anything to do with this crazy version of Optimus Prime. Megatron glared at them and his optics flashed a dangerous red.

'What are you waiting for?' he growled.

The Seekers suddenly transformed into jets and released their chains, each of them grabbing onto Prime's limbs until he looked like a T as the Decepticons carried him through the air. As the Seekers took off with their captive, Megatron turned his attention to Soundwave.

'Soundwave, send Laserbeak to the Autobot base. I want to know whats going on!'

Soundwave seemed a bit surprised at the order.

'BUT MEGATRON. WE HAVE CAPTURED OPTIMUS PRIME THEREFORE WE HAVE BEATEN THE AUTOBOTS! WHY SHOULD WE CARE WHAT THEY ARE DOING WHILE THEIR LEADER IS IN THIS...STRANGE CONDITION AND OUR PRISONER?'

'Do as I say Soundwave!' snapped Megatron.

Soundwave sighed but obeyed. He released Laserbeck and instructed him to fly to Autobot HQ and find out what was going on. As the robotic bird flew off, Megatron and Soundwave took to the sky. Soundwave then asked,

'WHAT ABOUT THE ENERGON WE NEED?'

'Get the Constructicons to do it!' snapped Megatron, clearly not interested anymore.

After a while they had caught up with the Seekers who were still carrying the unconscious Optimus Prime. Skywarp could feel that his leader was angry for some reason and tried to lighten the mood.

'Hey look on the bright side Megatron! We have Prime and now we can beat the Autobots easy!' he said in an uneasy tone.

Megatron didn't answer, he was now in a foul mood, this was not how he planned it. Ages ago he used to think of what he would do when he captured Optimus Prime and defeat him with the Autobots. Torment him, torture him, humiliate him, that was how he planned it. However he didn't feel victorious at all. He felt like he had just got himself into a whole lot of trouble. As the Decepticons returned to base with their prisoner they were unaware that they were being watched by a gigantic jet.

* * *

Bumblebee sat at the control panel of Teletraan-1 waiting for news. Ever since he saw Prime act like that he got more worried with each passing moment. He didn't know Prime as long as the other Autobots have but he knew that Optimus would never act like that. It had to be that stupid circuit everyone was talking about. He suddenly regretted cleaning Wheeljack's workshop, if he hadn't helped Wheeljack would had used another and safer circuit. However both Wheeljack and Perceptor said the same thing, the circuit had no special qualities when they checked it. Wheeljack however seemed to think that it was the circuit and even he was regretting ever giving it to Prime. As Bumblebee moped he failed to notice Spike and Carly walk in. Spike could tell his friend was very upset and he tried to offer some words of comfort. 

'Bumblebee? Do you need some company?' asked the young human.

Bumblebee looked over and sighed.

'No Spike. I'm just...a little shocked...and scared. I'm just hoping that Sky Fire finds him soon.' muttered the yellow Autobot.

Spike tried to smile but he found it hard. He too was sad that they were now hunting for Prime like hunters after a savage beast. Carly had been quiet the whole time, she was blaming her self for even thinking about cleaning Wheeljack's workshop. If no one had touched it then they wouldn't have found the cursed thing in the first place. Bumblebee watched the humans, who were clearly upset and on the verge of tears. He tried to say something but at that moment Teletraan-1 alerted the Autobot and humans that an incoming message was waiting to be received. Bumblebee suddenly sat up and activated the controls to see Sky Fire on the screen. Bumblebee was glad to see him but the expression Sky Fire had on his face meant there was trouble.

'Sky Fire, did you find Prime?' asked Bumblebee praying for some good news.

'I have Bumblebee, but I have some bad news.' replied the jet in a low tone.

Bumblebee had a feeling this wasn't going to be good and both Spike and Carly were trying to get a good view of the transmission hoping it wasn't what they were dreading. Sky Fire continued.

'I followed Prime's energy trail and found him almost out of Energon. However I wasn't the only one who found him. This happened a few minutes ago.'

Sky Fire then played back what he had seen. Bumblebee and the humans saw what appeared to be Optimus Prime sprawled on the ground exhausted surrounded by Decepticons! Carly gasped and Spike's face went white. Bumblebee was just horrified to see the Decepticons take his leader away in a unstable condition.

'I tried to follow but I lost them! Given the current direction they were heading in, I'd say they were returning to base. I'll try and find out more but until then report back to Prowl.'

Sky Fire signed off and Bumblebee jumped out of his chair and ran to Prowl's office with the humans trying to keep up. Bursting in the room he found Prowl, Jazz and Ironhide having what must had been an important discussion. They looked up to see Bumblebee's face full of panic and worry.

'What is it kid?' asked Ironhide.

'The Decepticons have Prime! They've taken him back to their base!' he cried.

Now all of the Autobots went into complete shock. Ironhide suddenly clenched his fists, cursing the Decepticon's while Jazz ran up to Bumblebee and grabbed him, but not too harshly.

'Are you certain?' he asked.

'Sky Fire saw the whole thing!'

Jazz looked back at Prowl who was now thinking hard. Saving Prime was their main priority but Prime was surrounded by Decepticons. Prime seemed to act violent when something upsetted him. The proof was when Bumblebee and Wheeljack didn't listen to him, Wheeljack made a small confession that upsetted Prime, Ironhide got nosy and Jazz along with himself had a private meeting. The Decepticons always got Optimus Prime angry or upset, plus what if he did get angry and lashed out? True they were Decepticons but not even Prowl would leave his leader in the midst of them while he such an unusual state of mind. He had to tell the Decepticons of Prime's condition so they wouldn't do anything rash. He looked at Ironhide who must had guessed what he was thinking.

'Don't tell me you're gonna warn them are you?' he almost shouted.

'But what if Prime attacks them? He could hurt himself...and Prime would never forgive himself if he did something like this!' argued Prowl.

'At least there would be less Decepticons to worry about!'

'Ironhide!' snapped Jazz, almost surprised to hear him say such a thing.

Ironhide shrugged and Prowl just sank into his seat. If he did warn the Decepticons about Prime's condition then what? They wouldn't just hand him back over just like that. However if he didn't they'd probably provoke him and send him into that violent rage. What was he going to do? The only logical step was to attack their base but the violence might enrage Prime further. As he pondered how they were going to save their leader, in another part of the base Hound, Mirage and Blaster were in Ratchet's medical bay. Ratchet was fixing Mirage's arm that Prime had broken earlier and Hound was just talking with Blaster, who was still a little jumpy after Prime almost smashed him into the wall..

'So he almost hit you?' asked Hound.

'Yeah, I mean I had no idea what was going on.' sighed the Boom box.

'Oh would you two stop talking about it already!' snapped Ratchet, as he added the finishing touches to Mirage's arm.

The Autobots jumped at Ratchet's harsh tone. He was just as angry with the whole thing as everyone else was and got angry with anyone if they decided to turn it into gossip of the hour. Mirage hopped off the table and began to test his newly repaired arm. It was as good as new and Mirage seemed happy. Blaster walked over and had a look at it.

'Ratchet your work is as good as ever!' chuckled the Boom box, trying to get Ratchet in a good mood.

Ha! Without me, you'd all be piles of scrap!' sneered the medic.

Blaster snickered and turned to face Hound. He suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, not moving and staring directly at Hound. Ratchet noticed and seemed a little confused as was Mirage. Hound had no idea why Blaster was staring at him, he looked round to see if Blaster was staring at something else but the only thing viewable was himself. He stared back at Blaster.

'What?' he asked innocently.

'Don't. Move.' ordered Blaster, in a very low tone.

Hound did what Blaster said but was lost in confusion. Mirage and Ratchet did the same and tried to figure out what Blaster was so worked up about. Mirage looked round the room until he finally saw what Blaster had seen. Ratchet saw it too and remained perfectly still. Not too far behind Hound, hidden behind a pillar, was none other then the Decepticon spy Laserbeck. He was well hidden but Blaster spotted his shadow, giving his position away. Thankfully the robotic bird hadn't noticed that anyone had spotted him and continued monitoring the Autobots. Blaster looked towards Mirage and cocked his head towards the spy. Mirage got the message and vanished on the spot. Laserbeck had no idea that Mirage was sneaking up behind him completely invisible. He cried out when he felt the invisible hands grab him and he struggled to get free.

'Oh no you don't you little tattle-tale!' snarled Mirage as he reappeared and held onto Laserbeck with all his strength.

Hound and Blaster helped secure the bird within an Energon cage that Ratchet quickly produced. The bird growled and squawked as it tried to free himself while the Autobots felt proud with what they had accomplished.

'Nice one Blaster! Good thing ya saw him!' chuckled Hound, giving Blaster a high five.

'Yeah nice one. But what his he doing here? Are the Decepticons up to something?' pondered Ratchet.

The Decepticons did like spying on them but why now? There was a small silence, broken by Mirage.

'You don't think it has anything to do...with Prime, y'think?' he muttered.

Blaster looked at Laserbeck, who growled when they made eye-contact. Blaster didn't particularly like Laserbeck, mainly because he was a pet of Soundwave and Blaster considered Soundwave to be a deadly rival.

'Possibly. I better take him up to Prowl.' said Blaster, picking up the cage and leaving the room.

Blaster left the room with the outraged, caged spy. Other Autobots noticed and snickered as Laserbeak tried to free himself. Blaster told them to mind their own business as he continued to make his way to Prowl's office. As he got closer he heard voices, and they didn't sound too happy.

'We can't just walk up to them and say he's a threat! They'll kill him!'

'They won't kill him, they'll just keep him as a hostage for now. Megatron isn't that crazy!'

'But what if he gets all mad again?'

'He's in the Decepticon base under water, he won't be going anywhere!'

'That's not the point Ironhide!'

Blaster had a bad feeling about this and guessed he should come back later. However he knew that Prowl had to know about the spy and opened the door, walking in. Inside he saw Prowl, slumped in his chair with a tired face. Ironhide, leaning against the wall clearly angry. Jazz, standing in the middle of the room facing Prowl and then Bumblebee, near the exit and sad. They all looked at Blaster as he walked in and at the imprisoned Decepticon. Ironhide walked over and poked at the robotic bird.

'How in the name of Primus did he get in here?' snarled Ironhide.

'Haven't got a clue, but he was spying on us in Ratchet's med bay. We managed to get him but we don't know why he's here.' replied Blaster.

Prowl sat up at the news.

'They must of sent him to see what course of action we are taking! They probably want to catch us off guard and then strike!'

Blaster looked up confused. Prowl saw it and suddenly realized that only the four Autobots in the room knew what had happened to Prime involving the Decepticons. I Before Prowl could explain what had happened, Spike had just entered the room after taking Carly back to her quarters and almost jumped back when he saw Laserbeck in the Energon cage. Laserbeck saw him too and snarled at the human. Bumblebee helped him up.

'Don't worry Spike, we got him.' reassured the yellow Autobot.

'Who let that junk-bird in here? I mean...how did he get in...and why is he here?' asked the confused human.

'The Decepticons probably want to know what we're up to while our leader is absent. They must have sent him to find out!' informed Prowl, now standing.

'How do the Decepticons know Prime is gone?' asked Blaster.

As Prowl tried to explain what had just happened, Spike looked back st the imprisoned metal bird trying not to show his fear. Laserbeck stared back with cold optics, almost like he wanted to kill the small human. Spike pondered for a moment and then he suddenly cried out,

'Can't we exchange him for Prime?'

Blaster suddenly looked at Spike, shocked at what he had just said. He then looked back at Prowl who had the look of regret on his face and almost dropped the captive bird when he finally figured it out.

'THEY GOT PRIME!' he cried.

As Jazz and Bumblebee tried to calm the Boom box down, Ironhide answered Spike's question with a negative response.

'Sorry kid but those Decepti-creeps don't care about their own. They'd give up half their Energon supply to keep him prisoner.' muttered Ironhide.

Spike slumped and fell to the floor. How were they going to rescue Prime without him going mad? At that moment the alarm went off and the room began flashing red with a high-pitched siren blaring round the room. The Autobots jumped to action stations and ran to Teletraan-1's control room. Spike tried to keep up and tried to shout out a question.

'Is it the Decepticons?' he bellowed.

'Not sure! Let me check!' replied Jazz as he checked the monitors. Soon the room was filled with panicked Autobots, scared that it was indeed the Decepticons attacking and that they were without a leader.

'What are we gonna do?' wailed Huffer.

'Calm down Huffer, it might be a false alarm.' reassured Wheeljack.

However Jazz finally got what he wanted on Teletraan-1's screen. It wasn't a false alarm and something was definitely coming. However what he saw on the screen surprised and yet puzzled him a little. Prowl stepped up, noticing it.

'What is it Jazz?' he asked.

'Well...it's a Decepticon.' started Jazz.

Huffer began to run round the room in a panic. Wheeljack sighed and asked Sideswipe and Sunstreaker to grab him and hold him in place. Prowl glared at Huffer and thanked Wheeljack and the twins before returning to the screen.

'So it is the Decepticon's...how many?' he asked.

'Just the one.' shrugged Jazz.

Prowl stood up a bit puzzled. Why would one Decepticon just fly over to their base? Could it be a negotiator? That didn't make sense because Megatron couldn't care less about saving any of his own kind. Jazz had finally figured out who was heading towards their base.

'It's Soundwave!' he cried.

At the mention of Soundwave's name, Laserbeak cried out and struggled even more. Blaster shook the cage to shut him up while Prowl address the Autobots.

'OK here's what I think. Soundwave could be coming back to clam what belongs to him in exchange for Prime. Or it could be something unexpected. Whatever it is Jazz, Ironhide, Blaster and myself will go out to greet him, peacefully.'

As Prowl said the word "peacefully" he suddenly glared at Blaster and Blaster just stared back. Everyone knew that Blaster and Soundwave couldn't stand each other but it didn't bother anyone till now. Blaster nodded but was clearly not to happy about it. Soon Prowl, Jazz, Ironhide and Blaster were standing outside Autobot base with Laserbeak watching the skies and waiting for Soundwave to appear. Within the entrance of the base some of the Autobots were also watching with Spike present. Spike was a little nervous but waited as the other Autobots did. Ratchet was nearby and he cried out to Prowl.

'Can you see him yet?' he shouted.

'No! Not yet!' replied Prowl.

Ratchet seemed puzzled. It didn't take a Decepticon that long to get from one place to the other. He made contact with Brawn who was maintaining watch on Teletraan-1's radar.

'Brawn, how far away is he?'

'He should be right above you any astro-second!' replied the smaller mech.

Ratchet looked to the skies but saw nothing. Then he heard Jazz cry out,

'There he is!'

Scanning the blue sky he suddenly saw a slow moving object. As it got closer he could make out the basic outline of Soundwave, however the medic noticed something was wrong. He wasn't the only one, Ironhide leaned in towards Jazz and asked in a low tone,

'Is it just me or is he flying slower than usual?'

Jazz had noticed it too and zoomed in with his visor to try and see what was wrong with the Decepticon. He almost jumped back with shock with what he saw and Prowl noticed.

'What is it Jazz?'

Before Jazz could reply, Spike suddenly cried out,

'Prowl! He's falling!'

Prowl looked back to the sky to see that Soundwave was indeed falling. They couldn't get to him in time, he was too far up in the sky and too far away for them to reach. However they heard the jets of Sky Fire and he had also seen the Decepticon fall. He transformed in mid-air and caught the Decepticon in his hands as he gently landed on the floor. prowl sighed with relief and he was a bit surprised with himself that he was actually glad Soundwave was alright. Sky Fire approached the Autobots and his face was filled with horror as he gazed down at the Decepticon in his hands.

'What the slag happened to him?' he murmured, as he lowered Soundwave down to Prowl's level.

What Prowl saw made him gasp. Soundwave looked like he had been through, as the humans say, hell. He was dented and in ruin with Energon spewing through cracks in his armour. There was exposed circuitry that sparked every time the Decepticon tried to move and his left arm was barely hanging on. Even his face was in ruin, his face-guard had been partly ripped off reveling his hidden mouth that was taking in large breaths of air to cool down his burning circuits and his optics were almost shattered. It was like Devastator had crumpled him up. Ratchet ran up and suddenly set Soundwave up to his portable Energon Supplier making Blaster gasp in shock.

'What are you doing Ratchet?' he shouted, almost disgusted.

'Doing what I was programmed to do Blaster...saving lives!' snapped the medic.

Prowl didn't argue, instead he bent down near Soundwave's face. His sensors told him that the Decepticon was still awake but over exhausted. It was amazing he was able to make it out here but Prowl thought it was a little reckless. Soundwave must of had a good reason to come here. The police car spoke very quietly so he wouldn't annoy Ratchet.

'Soundwave...what happened? Who did this?'

Soundwave moaned in pain as he lifted his head, circuits sparked as he moved and wires snapped. Ratchet had to force him to lie down so he wouldn't damage himself further. Soundwave made a low growl at Ratchet and then he glared at Prowl. He then gave the temporary Autobot leader gave an answer that shook all the Autobots to the core.

'...OPTIMUS...PRIME...'

_Yikes...What happened at Decepticon base? What will the Autobots do? Stay tuned!_


	5. Chapter 5

**A Tough Choice**

Prowl wasn't even sure what he was thinking when he gave the order,

'We're going to Decepticon base to...help the Decepticons and rescue Prime.'

The Autobots were horrified and almost disgusted with the order. They had been enemies with the Decepticons for countless eons and now they were going to get them out of a mess they got themselves into? Prowl sighed as he saw the anger in the Autobots optics, even Jazz wasn't too happy with the order, truthfully Prowl didn't like it himself. Ironhide spoke,

'Why should we help those Decepti-creeps anyhow?' he growled.

Prowl sighed and lowered his head. He then began to tell them what Soundwave told him earlier on. After they got him into the medical bay, he was strapped down to the recharge berth and Ratchet began tending to his wounds. The only ones allowed in the room was Ratchet, Prowl and Blaster. Having Blaster in the room was Ratchet's idea, since he and Soundwave were similar models it would make Ratchet's job a little easier since Decepticons had circuitry he wasn't used to fixing. Blaster just remained silent and glared at his rival, who in return glared back. Soundwave was clearly angry, possibly because it was Optimus Prime who had done this to him. Also, Blaster still had Laserbeak locked up in a cage. As Ratchet worked Prowl asked Soundwave,

'What happened at your Headquarters?'

Soundwave looked back at Prowl and snarled.

'WHAT DO YOU THINK AUTOBOT?' he snapped.

Ratchet then knocked Soundwave gently on the head.

'He asked you a question Soundwave, now answer! You're in no condition to get angry, you'll over work yourself!' ordered the Medic.

Soundwave glared at the Medic for a moment and then back at Prowl. Prowl could see Soundwave's nearly hidden mouth form a sneer as he sent a death glare to the Autobots in front of him.

'YOUR LEADER HAS GONE MAD! HE DID THIS TO ME...TO US!'

The Police Car flinch slightly when Soundwave said the words "leader" and "mad". Even hearing it from a Decepticon was just as bad as seeing it himself. Prowl bent down to talk to him better since Soundwave was straining his neck trying to talk to him and Ratchet was constantly forcing him to stay down. Prowl was almost face to face with the injured Decepticon.

'Soundwave...tell me exactly what happened...please.' he whispered.

Soundwave stopped sneering and now his mouth formed a frown. Soundwave wasn't as ruthless and stupid as some of the Decepticons, there were times when he saw reason and this was one of those times. He grunted when Ratchet removed his damaged arm but he began to talk. He told them what had happened the moment they brought the low on energy Autobot leader into the Decepticon base.

* * *

The Decepticons gaped at what they saw in the main control room of their base. The Seekers had just flown in with Optimus Prime bound in their chains, low on Energon and completely exhausted. They thought they would never see a day like this as Starscream and Skywarp dragged the Autobot leader onto a berth where he was strapped down. Megatron and Soundwave entered the room and Soundwave almost snickered out loud when he watched the shocked faces on the Decepticons as they saw that Optimus Prime was now in their clutches. Astrotrain was the first to speak. 

'How'd you do it Megatron?' he cried.

Megatron sneered and walked over to him with anger flaring in his optics. He was still in a foul mood and this confused the Decepticons deeply. Surely even Megatron would be glad and excited that they had captured the Autobot leader, now they could crush their foes with ease. Megatron snarled at Astrotrain, who jumped back.

'Why don't you keep to yourself Astrotrain!' he snapped before walking over to Starscream who was manning the controls for the berth Prime was strapped on.

Starscream made sure that the restraints were tight and strong and looked up to Megatron awaiting orders. Megatron looked at the control monitor and the readings stated that Prime was almost out of Energon. He growled, almost angry, as he gave the next order.

'Give him a jolt of energy.'

'WHAT!' shrieked Starscream,

'You'd actually give our enemy some of our precious energy!? He can shut down for all I care!'

Soundwave was also confused with the order and approached his leader with caution, he knew when not to listen and disobey his leader however he had to ask him why.

'WHY DO YOU WANT HIM TO STAY ON LINE?' he asked.

'I want answers Soundwave! Why was he out there by himself? Why did he warn me to stay away and why did he try to so violently attack me? I've known and battled him for 9 million years and this is both new and strange for me! I want answersand I want them now!' growled Megatron.

Starscream sneered at Megatron's reason for recharging the Autobot and Thundercraker moaned in fear. He didn't want anyone to wake up the Autobot leader after what he had just seen out in the desert. As Starscream began to activate the controls, the blue Seeker tried to reason with his leader.

'Y-y'know Megatron, the flesh-creatures do say, curiosity killed the cat!' he said.

'Do I look like a cat!?' shouted Megatron, even louder so Thundercracker fell back in surprise.

Megatron then glared back at Starscream, who sighed as he began to activate the controls. Soon cables were lowered and they attached themselves to the Autobot leader's open ports. Starscream pushed a button and soon Energon flew through the cables and into Prime's body. After a few seconds he turned them off, believing it was enough to keep the Autobot leader on line long enough for his interrogation. Megatron walked over to Prime and Starscream activated a control that made the berth rise until Prime was in a upright position, the Energon cables still attached. Starscream glanced at the moniter and the readings stated that he was stable. Megatron gave the Autobot a sharp kick and waited until Prime's optics flashed blue, meaning that he was awake. Prime weakly moved his head as he tried to figure out where he was. Starscream remained at the berth controls as Megatron forced Prime to look at him. Megatron was a bit releived when he saw that the dark red optics weren't there but didn't let Optimus see that.

'I want answers Prime! Why were you out by yourself with no escort? Why did you try to attack me in that way? It is not like you Prime, not at all! Answer me or else!' demanded the Decepticon leader.

He released Prime's head until it flopped down so Prime was looking at his feet. He said something but it was hard to make out. For a while there was silence and Starscream grew impatience.

'Answer him Autobot!' he cried, making the restraints tighter.

Optimus grunted at the pain but said nothing. Megatron snarled at Prime's resistance and slammed his fist into the wall near Prime's head, threatening the Autobot.

'ANSWER ME PRIME!' he bellowed.

Again there was silence. Some of the Decepticons looked at each other, a little nervous. They didn't even know why, Optimus was their prisoner and Megatron was always in a foul mood when things weren't going his way. The silence continued and then, to the Decepticon's confusion, Prime began to chuckle in a low tone. Megatron cocked his head in confusion.

'What's so funny Prime?' he sneered.

Prime didn't answer him. In fact his chuckling got louder. Then he began to laugh louder and manically, making Megatron almost step back in fear. The Decepticons looked at each confused and Megatron snarled, refusing to show fear but it was already too late.

'What is the meaning of this Prime?' he growled.

As Megatron demanded his question to be answered he looked back at the monitor and saw readings that made him recheak that his own logic circuits were functioning properaly. Apparently, Optimus Prime was going into some sort of malfunctioning fit and the readings were bot wrong and incorrect. Before starscream could warn Megatron, Optimus finally spoke but the way he talked was cold and dark, not the proud way that Megatron was used to hearing. It almost sent shivers down Megatron's back.

'Prime? There is no Prime...only I.'

Prime then suddenly looked up and Megatron saw that his optics had gone that strange colour again. The dark red colour that was so alien to the Decepticons and somehow made them fall back in fear. Then to Megatron's horror, Prime forced his left arm free as he began to break the restraints that were binding him to the berth. The Decepticons began to freak out and Megatron snapped his head in the direction of Starscream, who had almost fallen back in shock.

'Starscream! Strengthen the bonds!' ordered Megatron.

'They were at full strengh already Megatron!' cried Starscream, as he scrambled to get away as Prime managed to release his feet from the binds.

'T-That's impossible!' stammered Megatron.

Not even Devestator could free him himself from that strength! Soon Prime was free and he glared at everyone round the room while growling. Blitzwing had no idea what was happening but today he was feeling brave, and for once that was not the right condition to be in. He charged at Prime screaming.

'I'm gonna get ya Optimus Prime!' he yelled.

He pounced through the air, intending to knock the Autobot leader over and Soundwave saw that Optimus had noticed the reckless Triple Changer.

'DON'T BE A FOOL YOU IDIOT!' cried the Cassette Player.

Too late. As Blitzwing neared the Autobot, Optimus suddenly grabbed him round the neck and raised him into the air. Bliztwing struggled to free himself and he cried out when Prime's grip began to tighten. Soundwave almost fell over in fear when he heard the sound of metal crunching, circuits sparking and Blitzwing screaming as Optimus Prime crushed the Decepticons neck. Astrotrain tried to help but Prime knocked him back into the other Decepticons, who began scrambling to get out the room. Their sensors were telling them something was horribley wrong and they didn't want to stick around to find out why. Megatron's jaw dropped in horror, never in his many years as Prime's rival had he had seen this. Finally Prime slammed Blitzwing on the ground, so hard that Blitzwing head almost fell off and parts of his armour exposed his circuits within. His head was now barley hanging onto his main body by a few mere wires and Bliztwing himself was moaning in pain as he tried to call for help. Prime then glared at Soundwave, who jumped at the cold optics staring at him, almost piecring through him. Megatron then fired his Fusion Cannon and was almost horrified when the blast didn't even phase the Autobot, somehow he had gotten stronger. Megatron snarled, he had no choice but to give the retreat.

'Decepticons! Fall back! Seal the room!' he ordered.

The Decepticons had already fled from the mad Autobot who was now attacking Astrotrain. Thundercracker was trying to drag Blitzwing out the room and Skywarp tried to aid the other Triple Changer but ended up getting pummeled. Soundwave fled in the direction that Megatron and Starscream were heading, looking back he was almost sicken when he saw Prime tore off Skywarps left wing while crushing his shoulder. Skywarp screamed as Prime hurled him onto Astrotrain. Prime then shot a glare at the retreating Soundwave and began to chase after him. Soundwave almost yelped in fear and looked back to see the exit was almost shut. Starscream had already activated the emergency lock down making the Cassette Player curse him as he picked up the pace. He barely made it as the door closed behind him. Looking back he saw Prime was still advancing as the door finally closed and locked it self tight. However it wasn't over, Prime began slamming his fists onto the door and the Decepticons watched in horror as the door was slowly but surely starting to break open. Starscream panicked and looked to Megatron.

'What do we do now Megatron?' he cried.

Megatron was for once in a panic himself, he just didn't show it. How could Prime do this, it wasn't like him at all. Normally Prime could take on three Decepticons by himself. Four or five was a bit of a challenge, back there he did it as though it was child's play. Something had changed dramatically with the Autobot leader. However it wasn't the time to wonder what was wrong, they have to stop him and right now there was only one Decepticon who could do it!

'Soundwave, where are the Construticons?' demanded Megatron.

'THEY ARE STILL SENDING ENERGON CUBES THROUGH THE SPACE BRIDGE.' replied Soundwave.

'Well then call them back!' snapped Megatron.

'I CAN'T WITOUT MY EQUIMENT. I CAN CONTACT THEM VIA COMM LINK BUT NOT AT THIS LEVEL! WE NEED TO GO UP!'

Megatron snarled and almost jumped back in fear when Prime's arm suddenly burst through the door, grabbing Starscream own arm. Starscream cried out as Optimus began to crush his arm and tried to pull him through the small hole. As Starscream fought the arm that held him, Megatron and Soundwave bolted to the higher levels leaving Starscream to fend for himself. It was like the Decepticons to do this but for once they almost regretted leaving Starscream behind to such madness. Soon they heard a noise that sounded like the door had finally burst open and Starscream screaming. Then came a alien like howl that echoed down the hallways as Megatron and Soundwave continued running towards the surface. Soundwave felt like screaming when his sensors told him that Prime was chasing them and catching up. Megatron noticed too and snarled.

'Soundwave, get to the surface and contact the Constructicons! I will distract him!'

That was a first for Soundwave, Megatron would never do a thing like that however this was a very different situation. Instantly obeying Soundwave continued leaving his leader behind. As he got closer he heard Megatron's Fusion Cannon go off and the roars of the manic Autobot. Soon Soundwave was at the exit and he almost sighed with relief when he finally heard Scrapper through his Comm Link. Apparently the Constructicons had returned and were making their report.

'Scrapper to Soundwave, we have brought the Energon!' came the voice of the Constructicon leader.

'THIS IS SOUNDWAVE. ARE ALL CONSTRUCTIONS PRESENT?'

'No, Long Haul and Mixmaster are still sending cubes over the bridge...why?'

Soundwave panicked, they needed all the Constructicons to form Devestator, who seemed to be the only one who could take on Prime right now. Before Soundwave could reply he suddenly felt someone grab him from behind. Looking over he really did cry out when he came face to face with Optimus Prime, his optics even darker and his body covered in pure Energon...the blood of the Transformer race. Soundwave fell over and tried to scramble away but Prime grabbed him and slammed him into the wall. Soundwave cried out in pain as Prime began constantly bashing him on the wall. His armour cracking and his circuitry snapping. Soon Soundwave's vision was becoming distoruinted as the brutal attacks were begining to knock out his basic sensors circuits. Thankfully Soundwave had left his Comm Link on and Scrapper had heard the cries of pain.

'Soundwave? Soundwave, what's going on?' demanded Scrapper.

Soundwave tried to cry for help but then he felt the fist of the Autobot leader collied with his face. It was truly painful and it disabled Soundwave's vocal processor and Comm Link. He fell to the ground and panicked when Prime bent down and slammed his fist into his chest, glass shattering and metal cracking. Soundwave couldn't feel or move his left arm but he used his still working arm to try and defend himself. Prime slapped the arm away, then he held onto it and began to twist it to keep the Decepticon still but all it did was make the poor Decepticon scream in pain as he felt the Autobot was beginning to slowly twist it off. Soundwave cried out when he felt Prime's hand grab his SHU (Spark Housing Unit) within his body and held onto it tight. Soundwave tried to kick him off but it was all in vain. Then Soundwave saw something that was both new and strange. He saw strange black wires crawl out of the exposed holes and gaps in Prime's arm that began to snake their way down into Soundwave's body. Some of them even forced their way out of Prime's arm as it crawled down into the Decepticons body towards his SHU. Then Soundwave felt something spark inside of him and he howled in pain when he felt the wires suddenly wrap round his own Spark, draining the energy. It was like there was an explosion happening inside him and Soundwave was almost tempted to rip the SHU out of his body to stop the pain, it was that unbearable. His systems began to overload and parts of his body began shutting down. Soon Soundwave was losing energy and he thought that this was it until he heard the Decepticon Base door open. Scrapper, Scavenger, Bonecrusher and Hook entered the base, a little confused with what was happening. They hadn't noticed Soundwave or Prime as they walked in.

'Where is everyone?' muttered Hook.

'How should I know? All I know is that I heard Soundwave call for...'

Before Scrapper could finish he finally saw Soundwave pinned to the floor with Optimus Prime standing over him, his fist with the black wiring still inside Soundwave's body as it drained his precious life-force. Scavenger yelped and Scarpper cried out in shock. Soundwave just glared at them, demanding and almost begging for help. Scavenger was the first to speak.

'Prime? How did...when did...oh who cares! Constructicons attack!'

'NO! WAIT!' cried Soundwave.

As the four Constructicons charged towards their enemy, Prime noticed and looked up. He released Soundwave and turned his attention on a new set of Decepticons to break. Soundwave rolled over and groaned in pain as pure Energon began to pour out of his exposed chest. Looking back up, the four Constructicons were trying to fend of Prime but were being tossed and smashed as the mad Autobot over powered them. Scrapper was slammed onto the floor and Prime almost crushed him with his foot, then Prime slammed Hook's face into his raised knee before tossing him against the wall. Bonecrusher tried to climb on Prime's back but Prime grabbed him and flung him forward onto the fallen Scrapper. As they fought, Soundwave looked towards the exit and realized he had no choice but to get help. He got up and winced at the pain in his chest as he bolted past the fight and towards the exit. He heard the cries and the screams as the Decepticons fought Prime but ignored it as his new priority took over. Get help fast...no matter who it was.

* * *

Prowl was trying to keep himself from falling over after hearing Soundwave's story. Blaster had almost dropped the imprisoned Decepticon spy and Ratchet had almost forgotten what he was doing. Hearing what bloodshed Optimus Prime had caused had scared them and filled them with dread. Plus what horrified them the most was when Prime tried to feed off Soundwave's Spark, a deadly process that was both harmful to the Autobot and Decepticon. Soundwave just glared at the Autobots as they tried to compose themselves. 

'So that's when you came to us?' asked Prowl.

'NO, I WAS GOING TO GET THE INSECTICONS TO JOIN THEIR RANKS...WHAT DO YOU THINK!?' snapped the wounded Decepticon.

Blaster snarled and stood over Soundwave, who growled back. Prowl grabbed Blaster's shoulder and pulled him back not wanting any more violence, the Decepticon had suffered enough. Now the Autobots had a new mission. They had to go to the Decepticon's under-water base and stop Optimus Prime. Prowl quickly called a meeting as he, Jazz and Ironhide had already come up with a plan of attack. All the Autobot's, including Carly and Spike sat in the Conference room as Prowl called the meeting to order.

'First we're going to find the other two Constructicons, Mixmaster and Long Haul, who are supposed to be at the space-bridge. We then venture into the Decepticon base and try to find survivors and the rest of the Constructicon team. Then we somehow lure Prime out into the open and let the Constructicons form Devestartor. He will then hold him down so we can sedate Prime, long enough for us to pull the circuit out and return to Autobot base so we can fix him. There, plain and simple, any questions?'

There was a small silence that was broken by Bumblebee.

'Who's going?' he asked.

'Jazz, Ironhide, Wheeljack, Mirage, Hound and myself shall go to Decepticon HQ. Ratchet will take charge while we're gone.' answered Prowl.

'Can I come? I won't be a burden. I know I'm small but I believe I can help you in helping Prime! Please Prowl!' begged the small Autobot.

Prowl sighed. He didn't want Bumblebee to come, personally because he knew it would hurt the little guy to see his friend act like a monster. However his size might be useful and in the past he did help Prime overcome the Decepticon Personality Disruptor. He looked back at Bumblebee.

'Okay Bumblebee, you're with us. Any other questions?

'Yeah...what is if the Decepticons back stab us?' asked Blaster.

'I have thought of this. That's why we're going to use Soundwave as a hostage. I know the Decepticons don't care for their own but Soundwave is valuable to them. It would be unwise to get rid of him. Anything else?'

There was another silence. Prowl was quietly praying that no one would ask him the question that he feared to ask. Then Huffer slowly raised his hand.

'What if you pull the circuit out...and what if Prime...stay's like that...and what if we can't help him...what would happen? What would you do?'

'What are you saying?' snapped Sideswipe.

'I'm just asking...what if we can't get the old Prime back? What are we going to do?'

Prowl made a small growl and looked down as the Autobots waited for an answer. Prowl had thought about this and he had made decisions that even he despised. Perceptor had warned him that if it was indeed the circuit's fault and even if they pull it out, the effects may be permanent. In other words Prime might be like that forever, he would become the Autobots new threat, making the Decepticons look like small fry. He asked Perceptor what were the odds of Prime staying like that even after the circuit was removed. The Scientist replied that it was a 50:50 situation. He could or he couldn't, however he reassured the Autobot that he would research everything he could find on this circuit but gave Prowl a final warning, if the worst should happen then he would have to take a drastic measure. Prowl knew deep down that Optimus Prime would rather take his own life that become something like that, a monster that hurt and destroyed everthing in his path. Even Prowl had a hard time trying to understand it. Prowl looked back to the Autobots, trying not to show his sadness as he gave the answer.

'As you know, Optimus Prime fought for peace and justice. Whatever happened to him, we must remember that this is not our leader. He is probaley trapped within his own body, forced to watch himself hurt the ones he loves. I cannot let him suffer and I know you wouldn't want him to suffer as well. I have been over this with both Jazz and Ironhide and after a long discussion we have come to the desion...if the worst should happen...if we cannot bring our leader back...I will put Optimus Prime...out of his misery.'

There was a sudden outcry at the decision. Prowl ended the meeting quickly and left the room with Jazz and Ironhide following. Jazz was clearly not happy as he tried to keep a stern face and Ironhide had a face filled with sadness mixed with anger. Bumblebee's face was filled with horror and Carley fainted into Spike's arms, whose own face went as white as snow. The idea of killing Optimus Prime was pure madness it self. The Autobots were now praying to Primus that it wouldn't come to that.

* * *

Prowl and his team were ready to go. They were going to the space bridge first to get the other two Constructicons, Soundwave informed the Autobots that they were still there loading Energon cubes. Ratchet and Blaster were keeping a close eye on the Decepticon and the rest of the Autobots were planning on helping Perceptor research on the circuit hoping that it would help cure Prime. As the team prepped for their mission, Brawn was quickly asking Wheeljack some questions about the circuit that was found in his workshop.

'Do you even remember bring it back?' asked the smaller mech.

'Sorry Brawn, I just grabbed a bunch of stuff and didn't even cheak it. I can't even remember when or where...sorry.'

Prowl sighed as he noticed that Wheeljack was looking glum. Even though Wheeljackj didn't have a full face he could tell what the Autobot was thinking. The mech was blaming himself for unknowly bringing the circuit back to Autobot base and giving it to Prime. Jazz was just telling him that it could off happened to anyone but Wheeljack was clearly not buying it. As Prowl cheaked his blaster once more Carly suddenly walked up to him. The Police Car was a little suprised that Spike wasn't with her.

'Is something wrong Carly?' he asked.

'Prowl...I just want you to know that I'm sorry...if I didn't clean up that workshop...I just hope that you never have to use that weapon. Please come back with Optimus Prime...safe.' she whimpered as tears fell down her face.

Prowl tried to smile but it was hard. Deep down he was wishing that he didn't have to use the weapon either. Before he could ask where Spike was, Bumblebee came running up with his gear. Prowl noticed that he was running with care but ignored it was the smaller Autobot reported.

'We're ready to roll out Prowl!' he cried.

Prowl nodded and stood up, ready to address his team. Blaster was present but only to see them off, he was more concerned with leaving Ratchet all alone with Soundwave. In fact none of the Autobots were there to see them off. They were either helping Perceptor or they just didn't want to make it any harder on the team. Prowl stood up tall and proud, not wanting the Autobots to see his fear.

'Okay Autobots, our first stop is the space bridge. Just remember...this is the real easy part. Now let's roll out!'

The Autobot team transformed and headed towards the Decepticon space bridge, hoping that Mixmaster and Long Haul were in a listening mood. Blaster just watched with Carly as they dissapeared on the horizen and prayed deep down that when they returned, they wouldn't be bringing back a body.

_This is bad. The next chapter get's more violent and the Autobots have no choice but to ask Elita-1 for help. Plus the Autobots and Decepticons discover the origin of the circuit and it's maker. Don't touch that dial!_


	6. Chapter 6

_Optimus is on a muderous rampage and the Autobots might have to deactivate him for good! However Perceptor has come up with a solution on finding the origins of the circuit. However the main question is did Prime leave any of the Decepticons alive? This chapter is a little longer and sorry for the spelling mistakes, my spell-cheak is screwed-up._

**Joining Forces**

Prowl was a little nervous as the team found that they were getting closer to the space bridge, that was strange to him as he had told himself that this was truley the easiest part of the mission. However that didn't mean they could relax. They did out-numbered the two Constructicons but that didn't mean it was going to be easy, they were there to convince them for their help not to fight them. However the Decepticons were always violent and the Constructicons were just as bad. As the team got closer, Jazz suddenly cried out,

'I see em Prowl!'

'I see them too, but whose that with them?' shouted Hound.

Looking ahead he saw the Decepticon space bridge, a small pile of Energon cubes and the two Constructicons. However that wasn't all they saw. The Constructicons weren't loading Energon cubes into the bridge, they were argiung with the three Insecticons, Shrapnel, Kickback and Bombshell. Prowl groaned in disbelief, now this was going to be even harder. The Insecticons were Decepticons but they didn't get on too well with the rest of the Decepticons. Plus they weren't really smart and they only cared about filling their enigines with fuel. What they were doing there was a bit puzzeling, did they hear about the Decepticon base incident? As they got closer, Prowl tuned in his audio processors to hear what was going on. Apparently the Insecticons were complaining about something.

'Megatron promised us we'd recieve half the supply of Energon-gon. We demand our share-share.' demanded Shrapnel.

'Listen here you bug! Megatron told us no such thing!' snapped Long Haul.

'Then call him up you dump truck!' shrieked Bombshell.

'We tried but no-no-no one answers!' argued Mixmaster.

'Well we're not leaving till we get our share!' screamed Kickback.

Prowl heard and processed the information. Megatron promised the Insecticons Energon, Constructicons were given no such order and they could no longer communicate with their leader...meaning that the situation at Decepticon HQ was worse than he thought. That however wasn't going to stop them. He stopped and the team behind him did the same. Making sure his team was hidden Prowl transformed and looked back to his troops.

'Wait here.' he ordered.

Then he began to walk out towards the arging Decepticon fractions. The rest of the team transformed and watched, afraid with what might happen. Would they attack or listen. The Constructicons were violent and the Insecticons did things without thinking, who knew what would happen. As Prowl got closer to the bickering mechs, Long Haul finally noticed the Autobot and pulled out his blaster in a panic.

'It's an Autobot!' he cried.

The other Constructicon and the Insecticons looked over and forgot about the arguement of the Energon. Fighting Autobots was all they ever argreed on. Shrapnel snarled as he aimed his blaster at the approching Autobot.

'Stop right there Autobot-bot. This is our Energon-gon!'

Then the Autobot did something that suprised the Decepticons . The Autobot lowered his weapon and raised his hands in the air to show he had no weapon. The Autobot clearly had no intention of fighting them. He then cried out,

'I am not here to fight you, I am here because we, the Autobots and the Decepticons, both have a major problem. Earlier on, the Decepticon base was attacked by...a fellow Autobot who has gone into a manic state of mind due to a circuit that he had replaced inside of him. We have recieved information that your own allies are in great danger, including your leader. Your ally, Soundwave, has informed us of these events and now we are intending to go to your base to help both you and our friend! However we need your help to do so, now I ask of you to lower your weapons.'

There was a silence and the Decepticons looked at each other. Prowl was a bit nervous as he saw that none of them seemed to be buying it. Why would a Decepticon believe an Autobot, it didn't suprise him. Long Haul then cried out,

'Why should we believe or even care Autobot?'

'Have you made contact with Megatron recently?'

Long Haul said nothing and looked back to Mixmaster, who looked back. The Autobot had a point. As the two discussed in silence, Prowl now found himself dealing with the Insecticons, who weren't as smart as the rest of the Decepticons. Bombshell suddenly approached Prowl and growled.

'We Insecticons don't care about the Decepticons or your Autobot friend! However if we were to...come to an agreement, then we could work something out.' he said slyly.

Prowl sighed, the Insecticons may be dumb but they could spot an oppertunity when they needed one. Megatron would probaley flip if he heard that the Insecticons had willinly joined forces with their foes, but wasn't that what the Autobots were doing in the first place? Teaming up with the Decepticons sounded like a joke, but with what was happening they had no choice if they wanted to help Optimus Prime. Prowl looked back to Bombshell.

'What do you want Insecticon?' he asked in a calm tone.

'We want 500 Energon cubes!' snapped Bombshell.

'500! I can't get that kind of Energon that fast of that qauntity! I'll give you 100.'

Bombshell snarled.

'300 then.' he snapped.

Prowl sighed, how did he get into a price deal with an Insecticon anyhow? Looking over his shoulder he saw the angry faces of his fellow Autobots, not to keen to give their Energon supply to any Decepticon. Prowl looked back at Bombshell and tried to remind himself that he was smarter than the Insecticon.

'150. That's my final offer!'

'200!'

'I'm not going over a 100, Bombshell! We can do this without you so take it or get lost!' snapped Prowl.

Bombshell snarled but accepted defeat. He didn't want to waste an oppertunity at getting free Energon.

'Fine, 100.' he muttered.

As the Autobot and Insecticon argued, Mixmaster and Long Haul were discussing what to do with the current situation. It was true that they could make no contact with their leader, Megatron. In fact they couldn't contact any Decepticon. Was it also true about Soundwave? Was he an Autobot hostage?

'What should we-we-we do?' asked Mixmaster.

'It could be true. However to be sure...'

Long Haul looked up to see that the Autobot and the Insecticon had come to some sort of agreement. The Autobot noticed that Long Haul was staring at him and gave him his attention. Trying to look like the tough guy, Long Haul marched over until he was almost face to face with the possible threat. Bombshell stood back to watch. Long Haul glared at the Autobot.

'If you are telling the truth Autobot...then prove to us that you do indeed have Soundwave!' he growled.

'Fine then.' replied the Autobot cooly.

Prowl raised his hand to his Comm Link and activated the frenquency that allowed him to contact Ratchet back at Autobot HQ. After a second or so, he heard the Medic.

'This is Ratchet, what is Prowl? Something happen?'

Prowl grinned slightly as he detected concern in Ratchet's tone, but returned to a stern face when he saw Long Haul look at him with a not very impressed look.

'It's nothing Ratchet, I just need Soundwave to contact Long Haul. They want proof.' sighed the Police Car.

'Well he can't, I'm still fixing his Comm Link.' replied Ratchet

Prowl sighed and looked back at Long Haul, still waiting. They didn't have the time or energy to return to Autobot base. Then Prowl remembered that Blaster was still at the base.

'Ratchet, get Blaster to tempoary use his Comm Link Frequency with Soundwave!'

The moment Prowl ordered it, he heard someone cry out in the back round. He recognized it as the voice of the Autobot Boom Box, clearly angry. Prowl wasn't too suprised that he would be angered after getting an order like that. It meant that Blaster would have to attach some of his personal wiring to Soundwave so he could use the Comm Link Frequency. Soundwave probaley wasn't too happy either.

'NO WAY! I'M NOT SHARING MY COMM LINK WITH HIM!' howled Blaster.

'This is very important Blaster! Now do it!' snapped Ratchet.

'But...' stuttered Blaster

'JUST GET ON WITH IT.' came the growl of Soundwave.

'Who asked you?' snarled Blaster.

There was a pause and after a moment Prowl heard the voice of the Decepticon. He could tell he was annoyed and possibley disgusted with sharing a frequecy with his rival.

'WHAT DO YOU WANT?' he snapped.

'I need you to tell your friend's here that what you told us is true!' replied Prowl.

Soundwave growled over the Comm Link. It annoyed him when his own comrades asked for pointless requests. Prowl pulled out a wire from his audio prosscessor and held it out to Long Haul, since Soundwave was using an Autobot frequency he had to share it with the Decepticon since they couldn't tune into it, a system desighed by Wheeljack to stop the Decepticons from trying to listen in on their secret conversatrions. Prowl tried not to show his disgust when Long Haul took it and linked it up to his own audio's. Since they were sharing the same frequency, Prowl heard everything.

'THEY SPEAK THE TRUTH LONG HAUL. THE DECEPTICONS ARE IN PERIL BECAUSE OF AN...AUTOBOT THAT HAS GONE MAD WITH RAGE. SOMETING TO DO WITH SOME STRANGE CIRCUIT. YOU MUST RETURN TO BASE, THEN YOU CAN FORM DEVESTATOR WITH THE REST OF THE CONSTRUCTICONS! RIGHT NOW IT SEEMS TO BE OUR ONLY OPTION.'

'What! How did this happen? Oh, never mind that, what should we do? Is it that bad? You need Devestaor that bad?'

'JUST GO WITH THEM BACK TO BASE. APPARENTLY THEY HAVE A PLAN. NOW GO, IT'S SICKENING ME THAT I HAVE TO SHARE MY OWN COMM LINK WITH THIS STINKING AUTOBOT!'

'Well I ain't too happy either you pile of slag!' snarled Blaster.

Prowl turned off the frequency and almost yanked his frequency wire from Long Haul's audio's. The Constructicon seemed to be in a state of shock. He then looked back at Prowl.

'What is going on Autobot! Who is attacking our base? What is this circuit you speak of?' he snapped.

Prowl sighed and he told the Decepticons what had happned. If they were going to work together they had to know what the Autobots knew. So he talked, how Optimus Prime replaced his circuitry with an unuasl circuit that gave off no threat. How he began to have small fits of anger and when he attacked the Autobots in pure rage. How Megatron found him out of energy and brought him back to his base where he violently attacked the Decepticons. As Prowl spoke, the rest of the Autobots came out of hiding and stood behind Prowl. The two Constructicons listened along with the Insecticons and took all the information in. After Prowl had finished, Mixmaster sneered.

'Hah! Your lea-lea-leader has gone mad!'

'Shut it Mixmaster. He's in our base remember! The rest of the gang is in trouble!' snapped Long Haul.

Ironhide glared at Mixmaster but Jazz held him back. This wasn't the time for violence. Long Haul returned his attention to the Autobots, thankfully he was the smart one of the group.

'Very well Autobots. We shall take you back to our base. But your plan better work, or we'll kill Optimus Prime ourselves!'

'Then we are agreed.' replied Prowl.

Prowl then held out his hand as a peace gesture and Long Haul took it, reluctently. Jazz sighed with relief and Mirage just groaned in frustration. Mixmaster didn't seem to happy either but the Insecticons only cared about getting the Energon. Bumblebee just held onto his gear, hoping that none of the Autbots or Decepticons had figured out who he had brought along.

* * *

Blaster was despretly trying to untangle his wiring from Soundwave's own wiring. They somehow got tangled up together and both mechs were snarling in frustration, desparte to get away from each other. Soundwave suddenly slapped Blaster round the head in anger. 

'YOU STUPID AUTOBOT!' he snapped.

Blsater growled. Ratchet had repaired Soundwave but he still couldn't feel or move his legs. His circuitry had been badly damaged so he was still injured according to Ratchet. Blaster saw it as a burden to the Medic and if Soundwave could still talk then he was alright to beat up.

'Oh zip it you out-of-date pile of...'

'Quiet both of you!' yelled Ratchet.

Ratchet wasn't in the mood for the hassel. Prowl had managed to convince the Decepticons in teaming up the after informing them of the situation but that didn't meant it was over. Now they had to travel to the Decepticon base and that was going to be hard, very hard. As Ratchet worried over his friends, Perceptor suddenly burst into the room. He seemed excited.

'What wrong with you?' asked Blaster as he was still trying to free himself from Soundwave.

Ratchet looked over as Perceptor ran up to Soundwave, who wasn't too keen in talking to the Autobot. Perceptor was so excited that no one could hardly make out what he was saying.

'Soundwave! Doesn't Shockwave keep a record of all that has happened on Cybertron?' cried the Microscope.

Soundwave stared at him, a little freaked out and Blaster just slumped his face into his hand. Ratchet walked over and slapped Perceptor round the head gently.

'Speak slower Perceptor. What is it?'

'Oh...so sorry. Anyway, Soundwave I need your help with this. Shockwave has been on Cybertron ever since it came to be right? He was once a Law Enforcer Commander and one of his functions was to collect data on nearly everthing built and made on Cybertron, right?'

Soundwave still seemed a bit freaked out and Blaster just sneered.

'Yeah he WAS a Law Enforcer...till he back-stabbed everyone by joining the Decepticons!'

On hearing this, Soundwave wacked Blaster round the head again and Blaster did the same until Ratchet grabbed both their arms tight. Percerptor thought it was like a parent scowling their children and chuckled when Ratchet slapped both bots on the head.

'Quiet Blaster! Soundwave...is this true?' asked Ratchet calmly.

Soundwave was silent for a while before he answered.

'YES, HE HAS COLLECTED EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF DATA FROM EVERY SINGLE TERMINAL ON CYBERTRON. WHY?'

'The circuit was built on Cybertron! He must have some kind of information on it! Do you think he might have it?' asked Perceptor.

Soundwave paused and began to think. As he thought Ratchet leaned in a little closer to Perceptor to ask him a question, he spoke in a low tone to stop the Decepticon from hearing.

'If Shockwave did have any informationon the circuit how are we going to get it? He's a Decepticon and he's on Cybertron! We can't even acess that data from here and Soundwave can't do it.' muttered Ratchet.

Perceptor grinned slyly at the Medic, which suprised Ratchet a little. He must have been getting his devious habits from the twins or something to Ratchet's disgust. The Microscope must had gotten the idea from them, it wasn't like him. Perceptor leaned a little closer in as he explained.

'I do realize that there is possibly no way that Shockwave would give us any information on the circuit. However you forget we have an ally up on Cybertron who can...aqquire it!'

Ratchet seemed confused as Percertor just stared at him waiting for an answer. Ratchet pondered to himself. Who was on Cybertron who could help? No one popped up in his memory banks. After thinking it over he suddenly realized who Perceptor was talking about. He looked back horrified. He began talking loudly so that Blaster and Soundwave could now hear.

'No! No way! We're not getting her involved in all of this!' cried Ratchet.

'Who?' asked Blaster.

'Well how else are we going to get it? She is our only option right now!' argued Perceptor.

'WHO? demanded Soundwave.

'I know that Perceptor...but this is Prime's...she's his...we can't get her into this mess!' cried the Medic.

'Who are you talking about Ratchet?' came a new voice.

The Autobots and the Decepticon looked down to see that Carly had entered the room with Chip Chase and Sparkplug Witwicky. Sparkplug had heard the news about Prime and raced down with Chip to see if they could help. Ratchet frowned, this was only going to make matters worse. Chip wheeled in and almost cried out when he saw Soundwave glaring at him.

'What's he doing here!' he yelped.

'He's a hostage for the moment. What are you doing here?' snapped Perceptor.

The Autobots didn't mean to be harsh but they didn't want the humans to get hurt like before. They could see Sparkplug's concerned face, he must had heard about Optimus almost crushing his son. Ratchet frowned and before Chip could answer Perceptor's query, Carly ran up to Ratchet.

'Ratchet we heard that Perceptor had a plan! What is it!' she asked.

Ratchet sighed and began to explain.

'Shockwave was once a noble Law Enforcer Commander before he betrayed us by becoming a Decepticon. One of his roles was to record everything built from circuits to buildings on Cybertron. He's been doing it for millions of cycles and we believe that he must have some sort of information on the circuit Prime has. The only problem is he won't give it to us even if we tell him what has happened and Soundwave can't get it either!'

'LIKE I WOULD!' snarled Soundwave.

'Anyway there is a way to get the information from Shockwave, but it means we have to access his terminal on Cybertron and there is only one Autobot who can do that...but I'm not to keen in asking her to do it.' sighed Ratchet.

Chip looked up confused as did the other humans. Her?

'Who are you talking about?' asked Carly.

Ratchet saw Perceptor chuckle and then he remembered that Chip Chase had said earlier that Autobots didn't have genders. Sure it seemed strange to the humans but to the Autobots it was normal. He almost laughed out when he thought of Chip's shocked face when he would find out but replied to Carly with a serious tone.

'I'm talking about Elita-1, the leader of the female Autobot squad on Cybertron...and the Bondmate of Optimus Prime.' replied Ratchet.

Chip was almost suprised but mainly shocked that he had been proven wrong that the Autobots did indeed have genders, let alone that some of them still lived on Cybertron and that there was a whole squad. Carly would have been impressed that female Autobots exisited but now was not the time.

'What do you mean Optimus Prime's Bondmate?' she asked.

Ratchet sighed, humans had different terms for things they had. He tried to explian but Blaster interuppted, he had been around humans longer than the Medic.

'She's Prime's girl Carly. Y'know like you and Spike, his sweetheart, his lover, his dame, his girlfriend!'

That made Chip's jaw drop even futher! Autobots had relasionships? As Chip tried to figure out how and why, Carly began to think to herself. The only thing that bothered the girl right now was that she now saw why Ratchet wasn't too keen in asking for Elita-1's help. If she had found out that Optimus Prime had gone mad and that there was a possiblitiy that the Autobots had to kill him, she would get upset and might even try to approach Prime while he was still in his uncontrolled state. However she also saw Percerptor's reason, how else were they going to get any information from Shockwave, he and this Elita-1 were together on Cybertron and were closer to the data that anyone else was. Percerptor sighed and stood up.

'We'll just tell her we need the information! We won't tell her why!' he suggested.

'What if she find's out?' snapped Ratchet.

'How? So far we're the only ones who know, no one on Cybertron knows! How can she find out?'

Ratchet grumbled to himself. He didn't want the female Autobot to know but she was the only one who could this. Perceptor waited for an answer and Ratchet gave it.

'Fine then. Just don't tell her! If she asks for Prime, we'll her he's out on a mission or something!'

Perceptor nodded and ran off to Teletraan-1's control room followed by the humans, who were curious to meet a female Autobot. Ratchet followed as well leaving Blaster to guard Soundwave, who now had finally relaesed themselves from the tangled wires. Blaster muttered to himself as he tucked them away and noticed that Soundwave was glaring at him.

'What?' snapped Blaster.

'I WANT LASERBEAK, THAT'S WHAT!' snapped the Decepticon.

'Well too bad. I ain't getting him!' snarled Blaster.

'I'LL KEEP QUIET IF YOU GET HIM. JUST BRING HIM TO ME!'

Blaster was a bit suspiosous but what could Soundwave do while he was gone for a second? He couldn't move his legs, he had no weapons and his Comm Link was damaged so he couldn't contact anyone, he wasn't a threat at the moment. Plus keeping him quiet seemed to make Blaster's job a little more bearable.

'Fine then. No funny stuff!' he snapped before leaving the room and locking the door.

Soundwave waited till he was sure no one was around before opening up his Comm Link Frequency. He almost felt sorry for Ratchet, who had no idea what a repaired Comm Link system of a Decepticon looked like. Ratchet had unknowly repaired but it still looked broken to him, Soundwave had kept it switched off and went through the trouble of linking up with that infernal Blaster to keep it quiet. As the Decepticon found the frequency he wanted, he then began to send his transmission.

'SHOCKWAVE? THIS IS SOUNDWAVE, DO YOU READ ME?'

There was silence for a while. Soundwave waited paitinecly and almost thought he couldn't reach his ally but then Soundwave heard a voice he hadn't heard in a long time.

'This is Shockwave, what is it Soundwave?'

* * *

Deep within a hidden location on the planet Cybertron, far from the gazing optics of the Decepticon threat, Elita-1 was going through her security reports that Moon Racer had brought in within her secret base. So far no one knew where their new base was and that was good news to Elita and the female Autobots. Keeping her troops and friends safe was her only concern. She thanked Moon Racer before sitting down to take a rest, she and the girls had been working hard to steal Energon from Shockwave. She yawned as she slumped in the chair and began to go through her memory banks, searching for her favourite images of her Bondmate, Optimus Prime. Almost 4 million years ago he dissaperaed to find more Energon with a handful of Autobots. The long war had depleted the planet of it's once rich energy sorce and Optimus had no choice but to find a new source. She tried to follow but an explosion stopped her and the Ark, along with her Bondmate, departed without her. Then 4 million years later the Decepticons discovered she was alive and used her to lure Optimus Prime to Cybertron. It was the first time she had seen him in over 4 million years and even though they were in a dire situation she was happy. After the events of that day, Optimus planned to return to the planet called Earth and promised he'd be back for her. Elita giggled slightly, hoping that day would come quick. As she was busy thinking of her happy and personal thoughts, she jumped when someone tapped her on the shoulder. Looking up she saw Fire Star with some new news. 

'Elita-1, we are getting a transmission from Autobot HQ on Earth!' said the red, female Autobot.

Elita-1 sat up sliglty, a bit suprised but a bit excited. It had been a while since the Autobots on Earth had tried to contact them but if it meant talking to Optimus Prime then Elita-1 didn't care why. She stood up and made her way to the control room. Fire Star didn't follow, instead she cried out,

'Tell Inferno I said hi!'

Elita-1 chuckled as she entered the control room of her base. There was indeed a transmission from Earth and she quickly answered it. A face appeared on the screen and Elita was almost dissapointed that it wasn't Optimus. She found herself talking to Ratchet, the Medical Officer of the Autobots, he had a stern face and seemed to be a bit nervous. Elita-1 was a bit puzzled that he was surrounded by funny, looking, small organic creatures that just stared at her. Elita-1 switched to leader mode as she spoke.

'This is Elita-1, what is it Ratchet?'

'Elita-1 we need your help. Shockwave has some information about a circuit and we need it fast! The only problem is that we can't get it and...well...you're pretty much near it. The only information on this circuit that we have is that it's red and black and has the ability to make an Autobot go into a fit of anger and rage. Think you can do it?'

Elita-1 seemed puzzled at the request but stealing information off Shockwave was a peice of oil-cake. However she was concerned with this circuit they were talking about.

'How do you know it makes Autobots get angry?' she asked.

'Well...er...Sideswipe tried it and he got real angry real quick...but we pulled it out! We just need some info on it! Please Elita, we need this!'

Elita-1 sighed. Ratchet seemed to have forgotten that Elita-1 could tell when people were lying. However he did seem sinserce about the information and Elita would never ignore a request from a fellow Autobot.

'Very well. I shall go and gather the information. Just...one last request. Where is Optimus? Is he well?'

Ratchet suddenly panicked and Elita saw it.

'He...he...he's out on a mission right now! Sorry, I'll tell him you said hi!'

Before Elita could reply, Ratchet had logged off leaving her with a blank screen. At first she was suprised with what Ratchet had done and then she got a little angry. Elita-1 stood up and grumbled to herself.

'Men.' she muttered.

Elita-1 decided that this was a one-woman mission and was preparing herself for the task. She left Fire Star in charge since the red Autobot was the only able one at the time. Elita-1 informed her troops that she might be a while but if the worst should happen they were to continue their mission without her. She left quickly, Elita hated good-byes, and she made her way through the quiet cites of Cybertron. Ever since Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots, and Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, left the war-torn planet it had become a very silent place. Elita-1 knew that most of the Autobots that were still hiding rarley came out in fear of alerting the Decepticons that remained. She ran with stealth along the dark buildings and looked ahead to see her destination, Shockwave's control tower. She whisked past the security with ease and managed to scale the tower without going through the front door. Climbing up until she reached an opening, she sqeezed in and landed with grace onto the floor below. Looking round she smiled at herself to find that she was within Shockwave's main data room, filled with computors that held thousands of information of the proud yet brutal history of Cybertron. Running up to the nearest terminal she activated it and the screen asked her what she needed. a typical search engine, perfect. Elita-1 typed in the word "circuits built on Cybertron". Looking at the screen, she frowned when she saw that over a billion entries came up. She tried to narrow it down and typed "Red and Black Circuits". The number reduced but not greatly. She sighed and typed down a bit more information. "Red and Black Circuit Rage". She looked back at the screen and snarled, it wanted a password. Whatever she had found it was in Shockwave's top-secret list. Before she could even begin to hack the system, she heard a noise and looked round. The noise sounded like the footsteps of a certain Decepticon she didn't want to meet right now. Looking round for a hiding spot she found herself climbing up to hide within the cables and pipes that ran across the ceiling. As soon as she felt that she was safe, Shockwave entered the room. Elita almost panicked when she realised that she left the terminal on but Shockwave didn't notice. Instead he walked over to a secured box and he forced it open. He then pulled out a keycard and stood up, mumbling to himself.

'Unforgivable, I thought we destroyed that thing eons ago.' he growled, lowly.

As he headed to the exit, he suddenly noticed the terminal that was left on. Elita panicked but before Shockwave could figure out why it was left on, a droid zoomed in with another keycard. He then began to inform Shockwave on some details that made no sense to Elita but they seemed important.

'I have brought Prisoner 231198's security card. Prisoner 231198 is located in cell 10094 Alpha. His crime is the creation of the Emotion Ampliphyer Circuit, a circuit that increases the subjects emotions such as rage and...'

'I know all that!' snapped Shockwave, snatching the card from the droid.

'What I want to know is did he ever try to escape? Has he made any contact to the outside? How did that cursed thing end up on Earth!'

Elita-1 smiled, this was what she needed. A Circuit that inflicts rage within the subject, it had to be what Ratchet was talking about. Shockwave had thankfully forgotton about the terminal and began to exit the room.

'I'm going to the Detention Centre, I need a word with Prisinor 231198.' snarled the Decepticon.

The droid also left the room and when Elita believe that it was safe she jumped out of hiding. Whoever this prisinor was, he had the information she needed. She left the room out of the door Shockwave went through. Looking out with caution she saw that Shockwave had left the corridor right at the end. She followed and frowned when she that Shockwave was entering a elevator. As Shockwave entered, Elita waited for the door to close before running over. She forced the closed doors open and saw that he was heading down. She lepted down and made no noise when she came in contact with the moving lift. As the time passed, Shockwave went deeper. Elita-1 remembered that there was a gigantic Detention Centre in the lower levels of the planet. Before the war, criminals were locked away and even during the war Shockwave had sent doomed Autobots to spend their rest of their lives down there. After what seemed like hours the lift stopped. Elita waited till Shockwave had lefted the elevator before ripping open the top shaft and dropping down inside the lift. Shockwave was a few feet down the corridor in front of her and he hadn't noticed the female Autobot behind him. She followed, with caution and stealth. Looking round she saw that she was deep within the planet and all around her were cell doors, all around a gigantic dome shaped room. Shockwave was heading for a control panel on a deck that was centred in the middle of the gigantic room. She ran up onto it and hid behind a terminal. Shockwave entered the keycard into the panel and pushed a button. Suddely Elita-1 heard the humming of machineray and to her amazement the room began to move. The walls began spinning and cell doors whizzed round until they began to slow down. When the room stopped spinning, Shockwave then walked up to a walkway that began to extended itself out to a cell door with the number "10094 A" engraved on it. He then pushed in the other keycard and the door opened with a deep groaning sound. Clearly no one had been in the cell for quite some time. Shockwave entered and Elita-1 crepted up behind him until she was outside the cell door. Glancing in so no one could see her she saw Shockwave standing over a mech, huddled in the corner with a small terminal. He was old and covered in cables that gave him his daily ration of Energon. He looked up at Shockwave with tired optics.

'What do you want Shockwave? Has the war ended yet?' he asked.

Shockwave snarled and hit the old mech, hard. The old machine fell to the floor and cried out in pain. Then Shockwave grabbed him and held him up in the air, aiming his laser at him.

'You and I need to have a little talk, Mainstream!' growled Shockwave.

Then Shockwave hurled the mech into a corner where he whimpered with pain. Shockwave stood over him and aimed his laser again. Elita almost felt sorry for the machine as he cried out,

'W-what have I done?'

Shockwave snorted with laughter at the comment.

'What have you done? You built that cursed circuit 14 million cycles ago, that's what you've done! I lost half my unit trying to stop your test subject from destroying the whole sector and I ordered it to be destroyed after you told me you only made one copy!'

Shockwave then placed his foot on the mech's chest and forced it down making the mech cry out in pain.

'Now I'm told that somehow it ended up on planet Earth, which is impossible since I witnessed it being destroyed! Tell me Mainstream! How. Many. Did. You. Make?'

As Shockwave spoke, he forced his foot down on the mech even futher. The old machine cried out, his old metal armour wasn't as tough as the newer models.

'I-I didn't make them, I desighed them! My other colleague was the one who created them, created the circuits!'

Shockwave then kicked him hard and snarled.

'You mean there was MORE than one!'

The old machine sat up and winced at the pain Shockwave had administered on him. He lowered his head as he spoke as if he had regretted what he ever had done.

'Blowout cared about his work so much. He always made back-ups in case something went wrong. He wanted to help the people of Cybertron, the circuit was supposed to help them. I wanted to be a part of that. The circuit was desighned to increase emotion.'

Shockwave groaned and crossed his arms.

'I'm here for answers not a science lesson.' he growled.

The machine didn't hear him as he continued.

'Don't you think our emotions are powerful things? Happiness increases our morale and keeps us going, laughter makes us more relaxed and at peace and anger increases our strengh and power. Whenever we get angry our normal strengh multiplys as if the anger feeds it! The circuit was desighed to use that element of rage and anger to increase our power. It was supposed to help our soliders but the safeguard system failed and not only did the subject get stronger it also increased the subjects rage as well...almsost as if all his anger, his hate, his rage had a mind of its own. Blowout was always so confident in his work...he would never destroy anything that he had created. But now he's dead...and so is Alpha 5. Now I'm the only one left.'

Elita-1 had was shocked. How dare this machine try to manipluate the power of a Transformers emotion, it was both wrong and crazy...but why would Ratchet want to know about it? Shockwave wasn't too happy with what he had heard either and he grabbed the old machine again. He screamed down at the quivering mech.

'I couldn't care less what that stupid thing was built for! My only concern is that somehow the Autobots got hold of that circuit, put it inside of their leader and now he is on a mad rampage inside Decepticon base with my leader, Megatron, inside! Your cursed circuit has made Optimus Prime a top priorty threat to both the Decepticons and the Autobots and he is now beyond help. You are now going to tell me how it ended up on Earth within the Autobots base!'

'WHAT!'

After hearing the sudden cry, Shockwave suddenly looked towards the door to see a shocked Elita-1, her face filled with horror. She must had heard the news about Optimus and he wasn't suprised that she would be so greatly shocked. He aimed his laser at her and snarled.

'I was wondering when you were going to get here Elita-1, I was told you might show up! Sorry about your lover-bot by the way, now don't move!'

Elita tried to calm herself and remain cool as she was now in difficult position. Shockwave held her at gun-point and back on Earth her Bondmate was in terrible danger. All she could think of right now was how she going to get out of this to warn the Autobots.

* * *

Prowl tried not show his fear in front of the others as they walked down the corridors of Decepticon base. They had just arrivied and already they were all afraid. Hound was cheaking his sensors to find out which level Prime was on, Mirage and Bumblebee went to scout on ahead and Jazz, Ironhide and Wheeljack were looking around trying to find anybody alive. Prowl looked over to Long Haul and Mixmaster who were trying to acivate a terminal while the Insecticons were looking around confused. 

'Why is so quiet, quiet?' asked Shrapnel.

'Oh slag, why won't this piece of junk work?' snapped Long Haul.

Prowl walked over to see if he could lend a hand. Maybe if they found someone within the base who was good with Decepticon computors, like Starscream, it would make their job a hell-of-a-lot easier.

'If the Decepticons ever had an emergency, where would they go?' he asked.

Long Haul looked over and told Prowl the basic security protocals.

'Well, the base would go into a lock-down mode meaning that if you're on one side of the door you'd have to open it manually to get to the other side. Plus we'd all head to the mid-section, near the armoury. Best place of defense inside the whole base.'

Mixmaster suddenly whacked Long Haul round the head.

'You fool! Why tell him of our se-se-secrets!' he snapped.

'It's not really the time to worry about that, is it Mixmaster.' snapped Prowl.

Mixmaster glared at Prowl and before he could say anything else, Mirage and Bumblebee returned. Hound looked up after cheaking his sensors and shrugged, the look of miseray on his face.

'It's no good. I can't locate Prime anywhere. Did you guys have any luck?'

'No, some of the doors are locked and we can't budge em. However we did find some...signs that Prime was in the area.' muttered Mirage.

'What signs?' snapped Long Haul.

Mirage looked down with a face filled with fear and Bumblebee stammered as he held up a broken arm joint of a Decepticon, covered in pure Energon. Prowl's jaw dropped and Mixmaster wailed as he ran up and snatched it from Bumblebee.

'It's Scrappers arm Lon-Lon-Long Haul! Optimus Prime ki-ki-killed him!' he cried.

Long Haul almost fell back in horror and the Insecticons just stared, not showing any emotion. It almost amused them to see the Constructicon wail in pain and saddness. Bumblebee felt sorry for the Constructicon and tried to calm him down.

'H-he could still be alive!' offered Bumblebee.

Prowl tried to remain cool as he approched Mirage, the sitaution was far worse then what he had imagined. He grabbed Mirage's shoulder, not too harshly, so he would look back up.

'Mirage, scout futher. See if you can find some doors that could be opened manually! And be careful.' ordered Prowl.

Mirage nodded and left, vanishing from sight as he entered his invisable mode. Prowl sighed and looked round the room they were in. Even though in was in the Decepticon base as a temporary ally, he still felt scared as he heard the silence all around him. It was a deadly silence and the fact that he couldn't hear anything scared him even more. Ironhide growled as Mixmaster contiued to wail over Scrapper's arm.

'Get over it you dolt! Just cause you got his arm doesn't mean he's dead!' snapped the older Autobot.

Mixmaster snarled at Ironhide but still clinged to the arm of his team-mate. As they waited for word from Mirage, Hound recieved a transmission from him.

'Hound! I found some doors that could open!' reported the Formula Race car.

The other Autobots tuned in onto the frequency to hear what Mirage had to offer. Prowl could hear some grunting as Mirage was trying to force a door open. Then there was a loud bang as the door fell open followed by a silence. Still a little concerned, Prowl cried out to him.

'Mirage? What happened?' demanded Prowl.

After a moment or so, Mirage answered, his voice indecated that he was slightly embaressed., meaning that he must had fallen over while trying to force the door open.

'Heh, sorry I fell and hit the-AHHHHHHH!'

Mirage suddenly screamed and the Autobots panicked. Did he run into Prime? Hound quick as a flash activated his sensors to locate his friend and dashed off, followed by the rest of the Autobots. The Decepticons noticed the panic in the Autobots faces and followed while Prowl was still trying to comunicate with the Autobot, who still wasn't answering.

'Mirage? Mirage, answer me!' he demanded.

As they ran down the corridor Prowl saw stains of Energon on the walls and deep dents on the surfaces as if something, or someone had pounded it with their own fists. Hound cheaked his sensors again and looked ahead. Mirage should be within optical range any second. As they turned a corner they saw Mirage backed up against the wall, his face filled with horror was very still. He was staring at something that had scared him greatly on the other side of the door oppisite him. Hound rushed over and tried to shake him out of the shock.

'Mirage, are you OK? C'mon buddy!' cried Hound.

Jazz looked over to the opening of the door that Mirage must had forced open. Inside it was dark but Jazz could just make out the outline of something, leaning against the wall. He walked over and peered in trying to get a closer look. Long Haul tried to assit by finding the light switch to the room. After finding it and flickering it on, Jazz suddenly jumped back with a yelp. Ironhide looked in and turned away muttering,

'Primus.'

Long Haul and Mixmaster looked in and cried out in shock. Prowl forced his way round and the scene before him made him gasp. He noticed Bumblebee was trying to get a look too and Prowl tried to stop him.

'Don't look Bumblebee!' he warned.

He was too late. Bumblebee saw the Decepticon, Ramjet in front of him. His limbs had been torn off and his SHU was hanging out of his body, still clinging to the Decepticons insides by a few mere wires. His face was filled with the expression of pain and horror with a few splatter marks of pure Energon across it. The floor below him was covered in pure Energon and one of his limbs was in pieces on the floor infront of him. However the only thing that horrified Bumblebee the most was that the SHU had no spark within it.

_Optimus Prime has made his first kill...but his it his last? Can Elita-1 get the information to the Autobots about the circuit and will Prowl and Co run into their mad leader? What's gonna happen next time I wonder?_


	7. Chapter 7

_Sorry it took so long!_

**Rage Made Form**

Elita-1 kept her hands at her sides, ready to grab her hidden blaster if Shockwave tried anything. Optimus Prime had told her there would be days like this and she was thankful she brought a concealed weapon, being held at laser-point with Shockwave wasn't her idea of fun. She had followed the Decepticon to the old Detention Center deep within the planet of Cybertron where she found out about a circuit that made any Transformer into a savage machine and that it was inside Optimus Prime, her Bondmate. The very thought of Optimus Prime acting so mad and wrong sent chills within her circuits. Now he was inside the Decepticon base on Earth and from Shockwave's concern, it sounded bad. The one-optic Decepticon kept his laser pointed at the Female Autobot and grabbed the mech, also known as Mainstream, and forced him on his feet. Elita tried to keep her cool as she spoke.

'I demand to know what has happened on Earth, Shockwave.' she said.

Shockwave snarled and tighten his grip on the old mech, who yelped in pain. He wasn't in the best of moods right now, clearly because his leader was in danger and something had happened that was beyond his control. If there was one thing Shockwave hated it was when something was out of control and beyond his reach. He snapped at the female Autobot.

'Haven't you heard enough? This old fool built a circuit that makes any machine into a raving lunatic! Somehow Optimus Prime got his hands on it and now your lover-bot is inside the Decepticon base doing Primus-knows-what to my fellow Decepticons!' he snarled.

The female Autobot flinched slightly at the harsh words. She couldn't imagine Optimus being so violent, he fought with pride and respected his opponents. Shockwave kept a firm grip on the older mech and Elita-1 didn't show any fear as she spoke again.

'How did you know I was coming anyway?' she asked.

Elita was trying to keep Shockwave from looking as she lowered her hand to her concealed weapon, she had a feeling he'd fire at her any moment. The Decepticon had a habit of talking too much and sometimes never paid attention to what was happening around him. Sometimes, he just loved the sound of his own voice. Shockwave snorted and continued talking.

'Let's just say an old friend of mine informed me of the going-ons on Earth. He managed to escape from the Decepticon base while Optimus Prime was tearing it apart and had no choice but to inform the Autobots of what had happened. Now some of them are making their way to Decepticon HQ.'

Somehow Elita-1 got the feeling that if Shockwave had a face right now, he'd be smiling for the next thing he said almost made her Spark stop pulsing.

'Apparently the Autobots plan to put him out of his misery.'

'NO!' she cried.

Grabbing her hidden blaster she fired and hit the Decepticon on the shoulder causing him to fall back in pain. Elita dashed forward and grabbed the old mech. He whimpered when Elita-1 snarled in his face.

'You're coming with me!' she snapped.

Elita kept a firm grip on the older mechs arm as they ran out the cell. Shockwave got back up and started firing wildly. Elita bit down as Shockwave managed to shoot her in the shoulder but she continued to run. Out on the platform she fired at the controls causing the giant room to spin again. Shockwave had to hang on to the cell door as the room spun out of control and snarled with anger as Elita sent a triumphant smirk up at him. He growled and activated the security drones to seek and destroy mode. Elita managed to jump off the platform with the older mech and made her way back to the elevator. Looking back she saw the drones and frowned. The elevator door was still opened and she forced the older mech inside as she fired at the mindless machines until they were concealed and safe inside the transport. Not wanting to stick around too long, the female Autobot played around with the elevator's controls until it began to move faster. The old mech started to panic.

'Where are you taking me?' he cried.

No sooner than he had said that, the elevator's doors opened to Elita's desired floor. Elita-1 realized she had no choice but to take a drastic course of action, she didn't have time to send all the information on the circuit via communication. She grabbed the mech again and glared at him as she gave him his answer.

'We're going to Earth, old timer.' she snapped.

She bolted down the hallway to the Space Bridge control room with the older mech trying to keep up, a million thoughts running through her mainframe. Was she too late? Did the Autobots try to stop him? Could Optimus Prime be saved? Should she got to Earth, leaving the girls behind? At every question she had a simple answer, she wanted to save her Bondmate. That was the only thing that mattered. Upon entering the control room, she bolted and locked the door and panicked when her sensors informed her that drones were approaching fast, including Shockwave. She activated the controls to set a course to Earth and ran to the Space Bridge opening, dragging the old mech in with her. Looking back, she gasped as somehow Shockwave blasted through the doors and was advancing towards her fast. The doors closed just as Shockwave was upon them and soon Elita-1 found herself leaving the place she had called home for her whole life. Looking round she found herself in an alien place, filled with organic material. The planet Earth.

* * *

Ironhide sat in the corner of the small room and groaned in disbelief. Looking up he could see that Prowl was having a hard time to calm Mixmaster down, the sight of the dead Decepticon made him panic. Long Haul was trying to see if he could bring Ramjet back but Wheeljack just kept telling him that her was gone. Bumblebee just looked away, a little scared and a little upset. Jazz had gone off to scout the area, the sight of the dead Decepticon made him a little uneasy. The Insecticons were just being Insecticons and Mirage was still in a state of shock with Hound trying to bring him round. Ironhide didn't blame him. It was strange though, for 9 million years he and the rest of the Autobots had been soldiers, they had to kill Decepticons so that they would live and walking along the battlefields surrounded by dead bodies didn't phase them, until now. That was because this was different, this was done by an Autobot, an Autobot who had pride and decency, an Autobot who wouldn't dare kill a Decepticon...at least not like this. Ironhide stood up, finally glad that Mixmaster had calmed down. Prowl sighed and looked round ready to address the team. 

'Okay guys, this is a little...worse than what I had imagined. Right now we have to find the other Decepticons, before Prime does.'

'What if we do run into him?' asked Mirage, still a little shaky.

Prowl frowned, what could they do? Try and convince him to calm down, that was highly unlikely. Optimus Prime had gone into a terrifying fit and Ramjet was proof of that. Right now Prowl was only concerned with finding other Decepticons, hopefully they could find the rest of the Constructicon team. Also, for the sake of his leader, they wouldn't find anymore nonfunctioning Decepticons. Prowl opened his Comm Link to communicate with Jazz, ever since the discovery of the dead Decepticon he was keeping close contact with everyone.

'Jazz, you find anything yet?'

Jazz responded, a slight hint of concern was detected in his voice.

'Not yet...how ever I do have an energy trace of the Constructicon's, Hook and Scrapper! They must had been this way.'

'Good, see if you can find them...and be careful.'

Jazz snickered through the other end of the Comm Link.

'You know me man, I'm always care-'

Before Jazz could finish he was suddenly cut off. At first the Police car thought it was just a glitch since they were under water but when he tried to contact Jazz again, he didn't respond. Prowl panicked slightly and tried to contact him again and again. Ironhide noticed Prowl's frantic attempts of contacting the Autobot and soon the others noticed too.

'Jazz? Jazz? Do you read me? Report!'

Hound activated his sensors as soon as Prowl shot a look at him.

'He's not far...and he's not alone.'

Before Prowl could ask there was a sudden howl that echoed down the quiet hallways. The Insecticons jumped and ran behind Long Haul. Wheeljack stood up slowly along with Ironhide, a little afraid. The howl was not anything they had heard before. After a while they heard cries of panic and the sound of running feet. Prowl pulled out his blaster, much to Bumblebee's concern. Prowl gave him a reassuring look and approached the end of the hallway, where Hound had informed him where the energy signatures where heading towards. The cries of panic were getting louder and the footsteps closer. As Prowl walked closer, he suddenly jumped back when something small and black darted across the hall entrance. Bumblebee recognized it.

'That was Ravage!' he cried.

Ravage reappeared and ran down the hall the Autobots were in, a little surprised to see them all there. Following him were the two Cassette Decepticons, Frenzy and Rumble, running with faces filled with panic. They didn't seem to stop at the sight of the Autobots but ran straight past them screaming,

'Get out of our way!'

Then Hook appeared and, to Prowl's shock, he was missing an arm and his chest armour had been ripped open. Mixmaster ran up to him, almost glad to see his team-mate was still safe. Hook just grabbed Mixmaster's arm and continued to bolt down the hallway, dragging the confused Constructicon with him. Right behind them was Jazz supporting Scrapper, who was missing a leg and half an arm. Jazz's face was filled with panic and he cried out to the rest of the Autobots,

'We gotta move, we gotta move, we gotta move!'

Before Prowl could ask, someone else appeared at the end of the hallway. It was a sight that made him gasp and almost let go of his blaster. The rest of the Autobots jumped to their feet in pure shock at the sight before them. Optimus Prime stomped out into the hallway the Autobots were in and snarled at all of them. He was covered in pure Energon and his optics were even darker, almost black. Out of his arm through exposed circuitry were thousands of small black wires that danced through the air wildly, as if they were trying to search for something, like they had a mind of their own. It was like a thousand long, thin, black snakes had forced their way out of Prime's arm and were lashing out at anything they got caught in their coils. Some of them had coiled up the Autobot leader's arm and were threatening to wrap round his head. In his other arm he was dragging what had to be Scrapper's leg. Long Haul cried out and bolted after the rest of the Decepticon's. Wheeljack tried to stop him.

'Wait! We need to stick together!' cried the mechanic.

The Insecticons had fled from the scene with the exception of Shrapnel who was about to do something really stupid. Apparently, the scary and violent Optimus Prime wasn't scaring him one bit and he charged forward. Ironhide tried to grab him but the Insecticon was too fast.

'Don't do it you idiot!' cried Ironhide.

Shrapnel ignored him and pounded on the dangerous Autobot. Optimus snarled and grabbed the Insecticons led and flung him into the wall. Shrapnel hit the wall with such force his optics cracked and his metal armour almost snapped open. He cried out when he hit the floor and tried to crawl away from the threat. Optimus forgot about him and glared at Prowl, who flinched as the dark optics seemed to pierce right through him. After making a low growl he started advancing towards him. Prowl was frozen in shock and horror, it was like a bad dream that seemed so real, the worst part being it wasn't a dream, and it was indeed real. Ironhide grabbed Prowl's arm and yanked him back.

'C'mon Prowl, we gotta move!' he yelled.

Prowl shook himself and forced himself to turn into a run. The rest of the Autobots and Decepticons were up ahead, following Long Haul who knew the quickest route to the safe-room. Prowl glanced over his shoulder to see that Optimus was gaining on them, the strange black wires seemed to be reaching out towards him. Prowl felt fear and terror in his mainframe and focused on running. He would transform but the hallways were too narrow and the turns were too tight. Trying to get all his energy into his legs Prowl did his best to keep up with the rest of the Autobots, he was already catching up with Bumblebee, who was clinging to his gear almost in fear. He almost tripped and dropped the case he was holding. Prowl half expected him to leave it behind but Bumblebee spun round to grab it and yelped when Prime was almost on top of him. Ironhide grabbed him and hoisted him on his shoulder as he quickened the pace. Soon Optimus was getting further and further away and Prowl almost thought they lost him. Looking ahead he found all the Decepticons and Autobots trying to open a sealed door with Hound arguing with the wounded Hook.

'Why can't you open it!?' snapped Hound

'Cause it's locked from the other side!' yelled Hook.

Rumble and Frenzy were trying to force the door open with their powerful arms and Ravage was making vain attempts with his claws. Long Haul was trying to open the door with his arms while Wheeljack tried to find the wiring for the door. Ironhide put Bumblebee down and pushed through the panicked crowd.

'Is this your safe room or something?' he demanded.

'Yes it is and no you can't blast it open! Someone locked it from the other side!' snarled Long Haul.

'Does that mean that someones in there if it's locked from the other side?' pointed out Bumblebee.

There was a small pause as everyone stared at the small Autobot realizing that he had a point then Mixmaster and Long Haul began banging on the door hoping someone would answer.

'Open up! We got Optimus Prime chasing-chasing-chasing us!'

As the Decepticons tried to grab the attention of whoever was in the room Prowl felt a chill run down his backs and almost gasped in terror when he heard the foot-falls of his leader getting louder. Everyone looked back down the hallway to see Optimus Prime emerge from the corner, his optics burning with dark rage. He made a low growl and started to slowly make his way towards the group. Long Haul yelped and screamed even louder, hoping that whoever was in the safe-room could hear him. The Cassette team hid behind Jazz and Scrapper while Wheeljack and Mixmaster both tried to force the door open. Prowl reached for his blaster but felt a hand stop him. Looking up Ironhide glared at him, shaking his head.

'Wait a minute Prowl...let me try something.'

Bumblebee gasped in shock as Ironhide began to approach Optimus, keeping relaxed and calm. Mixmaster noticed and thought the Autobot had lost his mind. Ironhide stood a few meters away from Prime, who stopped for moment to stare at the red Autobot almost in recognition of who he was. Ironhide raised his arms a little and talked.

'Prime? Prime ol'buddy? It's me...Ironhide! Y'know, gruff and tough Ironhide from the good ol'days?'

There was silence as Optimus appeared to be making small growling sounds. He didn't move and the black wires seemed to be calming down, gently waving around the air as if they were slowly dying. Optimus stared at Ironhide and made a low growl.

'...IIIIIrrooooooooooonnhhiiiiddeeeeeeeee...'

It didn't sound like Optimus but it was a start thought the old Autobot. Prowl winced as Ironhide stood dangerously close to Optimus Prime, thinking that he might had brought him round. He moved his hand to his blaster again as Ironhide took a step closer towards Optimus and Ironhide was beginning to think he was breaking through to him.

'Yeah that's right...Ironhide! You remember don't cha Prime?'

After a moments pause Optimus made a low and deep chuckle. Ironhide sensed a change and took a step back. Prowl now had his hand on his blaster and was slowly beginning to pull it out. After a moment Optimus responded.

'Theerreee...isssss...noooooo...Priiiimeeee...Prrrriiimeeee...isss...gooonneee.'

Ironhide jumped back a bit, realizing that he wasn't talking to his friend. Prowl placed his hand on his blaster just in case and Bumblebee just clutched his gear. Ironhide sensed that he was talking to someone other than Prime.

'Who are you?' he snarled.

Optimus chuckled again but Ironhide had a feeling that it wasn't Optimus himself who was laughing at the time.

'IIII...aammm...annnngeeer...annnd...raaagee...maaaaddeeee...foooormm...Priimeee...issss...goooonee!'

Ironhide snarled and took a step forward, forgetting what sort of danger he was in.

'I don't believe that for a nano-second! I can detect Prime's Spark within you so he ain't gone!'

Prowl almost cried out in shock when Ironhide got even closer to the dangerous Autobot and he almost cried out again when Ironhide grabbed Prime's shoulders giving him a shake, hoping it will bring him round.

'C'mon Prime fight it! This ain't you!' begged Ironhide.

There was a silence and the black wires seemed to had completely calmed down. Prowl saw Optimus Prime's optics flash blue for a second and his head flopped down. Then he raised his head and the Autobot leader seemed to be in a daze as he looked round the room before looking down at Ironhide. Then he spoke again but in a voice the Autobots recognized.

'...Ironhide?'

Ironhide felt like hugging the big bot but didn't want to do it front of the Decepticons. He didn't like showing his soft side right now but was glad that Optimus seemed to had regained control again. He looked back at Prowl who seemed relieved as he moved his hand away from his blaster and Bumblebee was just smiling, glad that it was almost over, now they had to take Prime back to Autobot base for a deep check-up before the Decepticons got angry themselves. The rest of the group seemed to have calmed down now that Prime was safe and were about to approach the now calmer Optimus Prime when the door to the safe-room opened and Thrust appeared, his head was dented and his arm looked like it had been given a dodgy repair. He looked at the group huddled outside the door, glad to see his comrades but shocked to see Autobots with them.

'Long Haul, why are there Autobots in...'

Before Thrust could finish he saw Optimus Prime not too far behind them and in a panic he pulled out a blaster. Jazz noticed and tried to stop him.

'NO! DON'T!' he cried.

Too late. Thrust fired and hit Optimus on the shoulder where the strange black wires had crawled up from his lower arm. Prime howled in pain and fell back, grabbing his head as the black wires began whipping violently. Ironhide tried to grab him but stopped when he heard Optimus Prime's voice.

'Ironhide! Stop me! Stoooooop...meeeee...pleeeaseeee...' he cried.

Prime's voice began changing again and his optics flashing between blue and black. Ironhide panicked, in fear of losing his friend yet again.

'Prime!' yelled Ironhide, running forward to grab him.

Suddenly the wires wrapped round Ironhide's legs and tripped him up. They then began to make vain attempts to smash open Ironhide's chest to get to his SHU and the older mech tried to pull them away. Prowl ran forward to assist and saw that Prime's optics were still flashing between blue and black, almost like there was a battle going on in his mind. Prime then began violently smash his head on the walls, crying with outrage. Ironhide was trying to free himself from the black wires while the Autobots were trying to calm Thrust down.

'Thrust stop it or you'll make him scary-scary-scary again!' cried Mixmaster, trying to snatch the blaster from the Conehead.

'That Autobot killed Ramjet! He almost killed Thundercracker, Astrotrain and Blitzwing and Scavenger is on the verge of a total shutdown in his systems! Half the base is in ruin because of him!' yelled Thrust in anger.

Prowl suddenly felt a chill again and looked up to see Prime's optics had completely turned black. He snarled at the bots below him and tried to attack them but a blast to his shoulder made him fall back. Looking up to see who it was, Prowl was shocked to see it was Bumblebee holding his small blaster and aiming it at his friend. the poor mech seemed shocked that he actually fired at his own friend, the machine he respected the most. Ironhide finally freed himself and the bots ran as Optimus tried to grab them. Soon they all ran into the safety of the Decepticon safe-room and Prowl turned to see Mixmaster slam the door, just before Optimus tried to lunge for him. After the door was secured they heard the pounding and slamming of fists as the angered Autobot tried to open the door with brute force. Bumblebee dropped his blaster and looked down at his feet, almost ashamed at what he had done. Prowl sighed with relief and turned round to find himself staring down the barrel of a Fusion Cannon.

* * *

Ratchet was pacing up and down the control room of Ark, waiting for an answer from Elita-1. It had been too long and now he was afraid that he might had been caught by Shockwave or even worse, deactivated. Perceptor sat calmly in front of Teletraan-1 while Chip and Carly were sitting down in the corner. Sparkplug had gone off to find his son, Spike leaving the young teens to wait for any news. Chip still seemed fascinated that there were such things as female Autobots while Carly was wondering what was happening at Decepticon base. Did Prowl and co run into Optimus? Did they find any Decepticons? Her thinking was interrupted when Ratchet suddenly groaned in frustration. 

'This is taking too long! Even for her!' he snapped.

'Calm down Ratchet. She's probably still trying to find some information on the circuit!' replied Perceptor, in a calm tone.

Ratchet sighed and sat down. Was it such a good idea to send Elita-1? What if she found out? That was impossible, no one on Cybertron knew about it so far. As they all sat in silence they suddenly heard cries and shouts coming from the Med bay. Ratchet stood up and looked in the direction of his work place when Bluestreak ran into the room with a panicked face.

Ratchet! Blaster's fighting Soundwave and it's not pretty!'

Ratchet growled and stomped off to the Med bay with Bluestreak following. As he approached the Med bay he heard the voices of Blaster and Soundwave, including the screeching of Laserbeak.

'You dirty Decepticon freak!'

'AUTOBOT SCUM!'

Ratchet slammed the doors open to see that Blaster had tackled Soundwave onto the floor, who still couldn't use his legs but was making good work of his fists. Blaster was on top of the Decepticon slamming him into the ground while Laserbeak was clawing his back in a attempt to get him off his master. Bluestreak ran forward and grabbed the Decepticon bird while Ratchet pulled Blaster off Soundwave. He spun Blaster round till they were facing each other and snarled at the Boom Box.

'What the slag has gotten into you!' snapped Ratchet.

Bluesteak kept a firm grip on the Decepticon bird and Blaster shook himself free from Ratchet's grip. He pointed down at Soundwave, who was trying to drag himself back onto the medical berth and growled.

'I found this creep informing his pal Shockwave what was going on here on Earth! And that we requested Elita-1 to find the data about it!'

Ratchet almost gasped in shock but didn't. It did explain why Elita-1 was taking her time and now he was even more concerned for her safety. Instead of trying to calm down he ended up snapping at Blaster while helping Soundwave back onto the berth.

'Where the slag were you then?'

'I went to get his stupid pet! Why are you blaming this on me?'

'I told you to watch him!'

Bluestreak sighed as he forced the bird into an Energon cage, much to Soundwave's anger. As the Autobots argued, Perceptor's voice suddenly came on through the audio speakers in the room.

'Er..Ratchet? I have some good news and I have some bad news to inform you.'

Ratchet stopped arguing at Blaster and activated his Comm Link to talk to the scientist.

'What is it?' he asked.

'Well, we now have main source of data we need about the circuit! In fact we have the very mech who built it in the first place!'

That did please Ratchet's audios and it was indeed good news. Ratchet had no idea that Elita-1 managed to find the actual mech who built the circuit and bring him here, he had to praise her later. In fact that was a good question, how did he get here? Before he could ask Blaster interrupted.

'What's the bad news?' asked the Boom Box.

There was a small pause and Perceptor seemed to be chuckling nervously.

'Well...you see...he didn't come alone.' muttered the Microscope.

Suddenly in the back round, Ratchet and Blaster heard the feminine voice of an Autobot.

'Where is Ratchet? I demand to speak with him immediately!

Ratchet's jaw dropped and Blaster slapped his head shock.

'What's she doing here?' moaned Blaster.

Ratchet groaned and ran off ordering both Blaster and Bluestreak to watch the Decepticon. Running towards the control room he heard Elita-1 arguing with Perceptor. Did she find out about Prime? Soundwave did inform Shockwave about what had happened and she must had overheard it. Opening the doors he found that Elita-1 had backed Perceptor up against the wall. Perceptor was a little nervous about female Autobots and seemed terrified that Elita was telling him off. Carly was trying to calm her down while Chip stared at her in amazement. Ratchet also noticed an old mech sitting on a chair, looking round in confusion. Slightly nervous, Ratchet decided to save Perceptor before Elita chewed his head off.

'Elita, please calm down!' he said in a low and gentle tone.

Elita looked up and glared at Ratchet.

'Why didn't you tell me!?' she snapped.

Ratchet winced and raised his hands as she came closer. She must had heard about what they were planning to do if they never got the old Prime back, he could tell from the fear mixed with anger in her optics. He wasn't good at these situations but he did his best to calm the female Autobot down.

'I didn't want you to worry!' he responded.

'Worry? Worry? I'm angry right now you...you...stupid bag of bolts!'

Elita then slapped Ratchet round the face and he almost fell back. Looking back up at Elita he could see she was trying to keep her emotions in but it wasn't working. The anger and fear that had been going through her mainframe had created stress on her emotion circuitry and caused lubricants to fall from behind her optics.

'Why didn't anyone tell me? Why didn't any of you tell me? Don't I have the right to know?'

Ratchet sighed and placed a hand her shoulder, noticing the other one had been shot.

'I'm sorry Elita! I didn't want you to get involved because I knew you'd get hurt but we had no other choice! We are not going to kill Prime, that is our final resort and hopefully we're not going to use it. Prowl and the others are going to bring him back and we're going to fix him! I promise you Elita. I'll fix your shoulder up and as soon as Prowl contact's us you'll be the first to know, I swear.'

Elita choked on her sobs for a moment before wiping the lubricants from her face and straightening her pose. She didn't like crying in front of others and now tried to act like nothing happened. She then switched back to leader mode.

'Understood.'

She then grabbed the old mech and forced him to stand up.

'This happens to be one of the creators of that circuit you were all talking about. Ask him anything you want, I stole him from Shockwave.' she said with a cocky grin.

Perceptor walked over and examined the mech. He was indeed old and he seemed to be scared surrounded by Autobots, especially Elita-1. Perceptor was planning on digging a lot of information out of him.

'Now if you'd like to come with me I got a few questions for you.' demanded the Microscope.

As Perceptor led the terrified mech away, Ratchet ushered Elita-1 to sit down as he began to work on her shoulder. Elita slouched over as Ratchet began to pulled away the burnt out armour.

'Why can't we use the Med bay?'' she asked.

'We have a Decepticon hostage in there right now. Apparently he was the one who told Shockwave about what had happened and that you were coming. I had to stop Blaster from tearing him up.'

Elita chuckled slightly and winced as Ratchet fiddled with her exposed circuits. Nearly everyone knew how much Blaster and Soundwave hated each other. Looking down near her feet she started at the strange organic life forms that were staring back at her in wonder. She presumed that they were the humans that Optimus had told her about. The strange yet wondrous lifeforms who inhabited the planet Earth. However she felt a bit uncomfortable that they were just staring at her. She looked back up at Ratchet.

'Why are they staring at me?' she asked.

'Well...they once thought that there was no such thing as female Autobots...that we were genderless.' snickered the Medic.

Elita's optics widened with shock and she stared back at the humans, why would they not think they had genders? Then again she didn't believe Optimus at first when he told him about organic life, she had lived on Cybertron too long and was never interested in life on other planets. The one with the golden hair smiled and waved a little.

'Hi there! I'm Carly.'

Elita tilted her head in confusion with the gesture and copied the human named Carly. She giggled a little and Elita formed a small smile. No wonder Optimus was so fond of them, they seemed very interesting.

'Greetings Carly, I am Elita-1.'

Elita then looked at Chip.

'You must be the one called...Spike? Optimus has told me alot about you.'

Chip chuckled and shook his head.

'Actually I'm Chip Chase. I'm a friend of Spike.'

'Oh, I see...why do you have wheels?' queried Elita, glancing at his wheelchair.

This time Ratchet chuckled as Chip began to flush red, confusing Elita. As Chip began to explain Carly realized something, she hadn't seen Spike since this morning. At first she thought he went home after what had happened but that didn't seem right, Sparkplug had been home all day and never saw him. He thought that his son was still at the Autobot base that's why he came with them. Carly began to think back, the last time she saw him was when he went off to help Bumblebee pack away some gear for the mission. A sudden thought creeped into her mind. he couldn't have...could he? Chip had finished explaining to Elita about the reason he was in a wheelchair.

'Don't you have engineers or mechanics to fix you?' asked the female Autobot.

'Well...no. It's complicated.' muttered Chip.

At that moment Sparkplug ran into the room, his face red from running. He seemed to be in a panic and Carly had a good guess why.

'Ratchet! I can't find Spike anywhere!' wailed the older human.

Sparkplug jumped slightly at the sight of the female Autobot, who stared back, but he was more concerned with his missing son. Ratchet himself began to think where he had last seen Spike before asking Carly. Those two were always together.

'You haven't seen him, have you Carly?' asked the Medic.

Carly gulped and decided to spill the beans rather now then later.

'Well...I saw him helping Bumblebee right before they took off.' she answered.

Ratchet's face form a frown and Sparkplug began to panic even more. There was only one clear explanation where Spike Witwicky had gone, he had snuck along with the Autobot team who had departed to the Decepticon base. Plus another thought on Ratchet's mind was, did they run into Prime or did they run into Megatron? That is if either of them were still alive.

_So close! Trapped in the Decepticon safe-room the Autobots and Decepticons have to plan how to get Prime out of the Decepticon base and find the missing Constructicon, Bonecrusher in order to get Devestator. Plus Perceptor finds out some scary truths about the circuit. What's gonna happen next?_


	8. Chapter 8

_What's gonna happen now? Sorry it took so long by the way _

**Small But Great Help**

Bumblebee was still in shock at what he had done. Ever since he joined the Autobots he had grown to admire and respect his leader, Optimus Prime. He was wise, gentle, powerful and brave, always looking out for his friends and not daring once to bring them to any harm. However that had changed, Optimus Prime was now a manic, killing machine all because of some stupid circuit. He lashed out at anyone who made him angry and left the base in furious fit. Weak from the lack Energon he collapsed in the desert where the Decepticons found him and brought him back to base where he attacked them in a barbaric way that even Megatron was horrified. The Autobots planned to help their leader and went on a mission led by Prowl to assit the Decepticons trapped within their own base. the plan was to get the Constructicons together to form Devestator, lure Prime out of the base and using the giants help restrain the crazed Optimus Prime. Long enough to sedate him, bring him back to base and get rid of what damage the circuit had done to his personaility mainframe. It was easier said than done. So far they found the remains of Ramjet and half the Decepticon forces in shambles. Then they ran into Optimus himself and it was a sight that made Bumblebee almost scream in horror. His optics were as dark as the night and his body covered in pure Energon. He had the look of pure Rage in his face and stragne black wires and cables were crawling out of his exposed armour that lashed out at anyone who got near. He chased them down the halls of the Decepticon base until they reached the safe-room, the safest place to be in the enemy base. Upon reaching it, it was locked from the otherside and Optimus was right behind them. However Ironhide tried to bring his old friend round and almost accomplished it until Thrust emerged from the safe-room and fired at him, causing the Autobot leader to re-enter his manic sate. Bumblebee watched in horror as Prime was about to kill Ironhide and Prowl and without thinking he fired at his friend. He fired at the one machine he considered a great friend to save his other friends. with Prime dazed they all made for the safety of the safe-room, giving them time to catch their breaths. Bumblebee dropped his blaster in shock, horrofied at what he done. He told himself he would never raise his weapon against his friends but he had no choice. As he stared at his feet he suddenley heard a small growl. Turning round he saw Prowl standing perfectley still, looking down the barrel of Megatron's Fusion Cannon. Looking round the room he saw that there were four Constructicons, Thrust, Skywarp, Blitzwing and, of cousre, Megatron himself. all of them were battered and broken. Megatron had a gaping hole in chest and his leg was bareley hanging on but he managed to both feet, glaring at Prowl. He snarled and took a step closer.

'What are you doing here Autobot? Come to finish us of have you?'

Prowl remained calm. Wheeljack and Jazz had blaster pointed at their heads while Ironhide, Hound and Mirage were shoved in a corner. Bumblebee found Ravage circuling him, growling and snarling. The small Autobot gulped and clucthed his gear. The Decepticons were on the edge and seeing a group of Autobots in their base after Optimus tore it up was considered a threat. Long Haul was the first to speak after the long silence.

'Wait Megatron, believe or not they're here to help!'

Mixmaster also stepped in.

'That's right Mega-Mega-Megatron! Plus they have Soundwave as a hos-hos-hostage!'

Megatron glared at them but kept his Fusion Cannon shoved up Prowl's face. The Constructicons took a step back, still fearful of their leader. Megatron then glared back at Prowl and snarled, with the police car trying to remain calm. He was no match for the might of Megatron, only Optimus Prime could match him in strengh and power. However Prowl had a gift for being smart in a situation like this. Not showing any fear he began to neogociate with the Decepticon leader.

'Listen Megatron, we're not here to fight you. We're here to get our leader back and...assit you.'

Megatron raised an optic and snarled.

'Why should I believe what you say Autobot? You set your leader upon us and now are here to finish us off!'

Prowl smirked a little but not too much to agitate the Decepticons anger.

'Then why am I still standing here? If we're such a threat to you why haven't you killed us yet? Face it Megatron, we're here to help and you know it!'

If it had been a normal situation, Prowl would had been dead by now. However this wasn't a normal situation and Megatron knew that. If he wanted to get himself and the rest of the remaining Decepticons out of this alive he had to form a truce with these Autobots. Megatron, however, wanted answers. The ansers he never got from Prime.

'Tell me Autobot. What has happened to Prime? What do you have in mind in order to help him...and us?' growled the Decepticon leader.

Prowl was a little reliefed that Megatron had now lowered his deadly weapon, making him relax a little. He then began to explain what had happened, about the starnge circuit, Prime's sudden and dangerous anger, how the Autobots found out the Decepticons found him and that he was wreacking havoc in their base after Soundwave came for help, how the Autobots planned to get the Constructicons together to restrain Prime long enough to sedate him and remove the circuit and how they would help restore order to the Decepticon base. It took a while to explain and as the Police car spoke to the leader of the Decepticons, Wheeljack began to fix up the damaged Decepticons. The rest of the Autobots were now allowed to relax as the Decepticons felt a little safe knowing that they weren't here to finish them off. Megatron listened to every little detail of Prowl's explanation and seemed rather interested about the strange red and black circuit. Apparentely he heard something about it but the information in his data banks were too small. After Prowl had finished explaining Megatron snorted at the plan.

'It is a good plan Autobot. However you forgot one small thing.'

'What's that?' asked Prowl, keeping his cool.

Megatron pointed at his troops, mainly pointing at the group of shattered Constructicons.

'We only have four of the five Constructicons. Bonecrusher is still missing within the base.'

Prowl sighed, he knew it was going to be hard but he wasn't really planning on this. They needed all five Constructicons to get Devestator, who seemed to be the only one to stop Prime. Prowl returned his attention to Megatron.

'Have you tried communicating with him?'

'Tried but our comm links have malfunctioned.' muttered Skywarp.

'Well we better go out and get him!' hollered Ironhide.

'You can go out there if you want but I'm planning on living!' sneered Thrust.

Wheeljack huffed as some of the Decepticons began to quarrel with the Autobots and looked round the safe-room. His optic's caught sight of a large computor terminal in the corner of the room and he walked over to it trying to see if it could work. Megatron noticed and snarled at the mechanic.

'What do you think you're doing Autobot?' snapped the Decepticon leader.

'I going to try and get Teletraan-1 to help us locate the wherabouts of your friends within the base. I just gotta contact Ratchet first!'

Megatron snarled and began to march over to where Wheeljack was standing at the terminal. Prowl and Hound blocked his path and didn't budge when Megatron raised his Fusion Cannon, demanding to be let past.

'No one uses my Communication terminal without my consent!'

'Megatron please! If we want to help each other we have to trust each other! We're stuck in this mess together right now!' snapped Prowl, trying to be reasonable.

Ironhide knew what was really bugging Megatron. If Teletraan-1 scanned their base he could get into their computor systems and download secret information. The thought hadn't really crossed Ironhide's mind, this was a good oppertunity to steal data from the enemy but this wasn't the right time. Prowl had managed to calm the Decepticon leader down and Wheeljack had already managed to make contact with the Autobot base.

'Ratchet? Ratchet this is Wheeljack, do you read me?'

At first there was nothing but static but soon they heard the voice of the Autobot medic.

'Wheeljack? This is Ratchet! Where is everyone? Are you safe? What of Prime?'

Wheeljack smirked under his mask after he detected the hint of concern in Ratchet's voice. Ratchet didn't like to express how he was feeling but Wheeljack had worked with him for a long time and knew how he felt just by listening to his voice.

'We're fine Ratchet. We did run into Prime but...managed to get away before...well anyway we made contact with the Decepticons, including Megatron and four of the Constructicons. Slight problem is we're missing one of them and if we're going to make the plan work we need to find him! Get Teletraan-1 to scan the Decepticon base to see if he can pick up any energy signitures.'

There was silence for a while until Ratchet spoke again.

'I shall proceed with that...I just have one small question.'

Wheeljack blinked, what could Ratchet possibley want to know right here, right now?

'Go on.'

There was an awkard silence and some of the Decepticons were curious to know what the Autobot medic wanted. Finally Ratchet gave his question.

'Is Spike with you? We haven't seen him all morning! Sparkplug can't find him either!'

There was a long silence. Soon everyone's heads turned to face Bumblebee who looked back at them with an innocent expression, cluthing his gear. Prowl now had an angered yet stern look on his face as he walked over to the small Autobot.

'That little insect better not had brought a flesh creature into my base!' snarled Megatron, glaring at Bumblebee.

Bumblebee backed away from the advancing Prowl only to bump into Jazz. He looked up and saw the concern in Jazz's optics behind his visor. Jazz stared back in disbelief.

'Bumblebee little buddy...you didn't?' murmered Jazz.

Before Bumblebee could say anything, Skywarp suddenley snatched the Autobots gear and forced the case opened. Bumblebee yelped as the contents fell out. Among them were blaster ammo, tools and a small organic creature that tumbled onto the floor. Prowl groaned in disbelif and Ravage growled as the organic creature looked up at the robotic faces and tried to form an uneasy grin on his face.

'Spike! What are you doing here!?' demanded the Police Car.

Spike Witwicky stood up and brushed the dirt off his clothes. He had been stuck in Bumblebee's case for nearly 3 hours and was glad that he was finally out. He had pleaded with his Autobot friend about coming claiming that he could help. At first Bumblebee wasn't so sure but thought that maybe Spike could be of help, he had been of great help in the past in tough situations. Bumblebee grabbed Spike before Ravage could lay his claws on him and stood back. Spike tried to defend Bumblebee.

'Prowl, I was the one who convinced Bumblebee to bring me along! I thought I could help you guys!'

Prowl sighed and Skywarp sneered at the human. The Decepticons hated humans as much as they hated the Autobots. Megatron seemed to be more angered that the Autobots brought a human with them. Wheeljack confirmed to Ratchet the location of Spike while Prowl began to give the small Autobot a lecture.

'What in Primus were you thinking Bumblebee? He's father is worried sick and you almost put him in great danger! How can he help us!?'

'I know it was stupid Prowl but I believe he can help us! He's done so before.' argued the small Autobot.

'This is a little different Bumblebee. You've put Spike in great danger, he could of died!'

Before Bumblebee could try to defend himself, Hook suddenley interuppted.

'Atcully I think he can be of some use.'

Everyone suddenley stared at the Constructicon, Prowl in particular was in shock. Decepticons using humans was never a good combanation and Prowl wasn't about to let them use one of their closest friends for one of their darstetly plans. Hook looked up and grinned.

'He's small enough to go through our vents. You find Bonecrusher on your computor and he can go and fix him. He can repair Autobots, no?'

Prowl glared at the Constructicon, not at all happy with what he was planning.

'Yes he can fix Autobots...he doesn't know a thing about Decepticon technology! What the slag are you thinking sending him out there while Prime is around! He'll kill him!'

Megatron snickered at the thought of Optimus Prime killing something he had grown quite found of. Ironhide glared at the Decepticon but didn't dare argue with him. Hook walked over to Spike, still in Bumblebee's arms and chuckled, making Spike feel a little uneasy.

'Prime won't give a dam about him! He's more interested in us than organics.'

'What if he does! Spike can't outrun him!'

Hook realized this and began to think. Then he looked over at Ravage who snarled at the Constructicons stare as if to say, don't you even think about it! Hook growled back and snatched the black robotic feline up. He then shoved him in Spike's face who almost yelped as it began to snarl and growl.

'Ravage can go with him!'

Prowl looked at Hook as if he had gone mad. Spike and Ravage were not the best of friends, even Bumblebee was horrified that Hook would even suggest a thing. Ravage would leave Spike on the spot the moment Optimus would appear. However Hound suddenly spoke.

'I think...it would work.'

Mirage's jaw dropped in horror as did the other Autobots. Even Megatron was suprised at what the Autobot just said. The Autobots would never endanger the life of an Earthling, Optimus wouldn't dream of it. However this was an entireley different situation. Mirage appeared to be in shock with what Hound had said.

'You can't be serious Hound!' cried Mirage.

'We can't go out there and Prime would detect you even if you went invisable! Spike and Ravage seem to our only hope of locating Bonecrusher. I wouldn't put Spike at risk so I'll leave it up to him.'

Wheeljack was listening in and he spun round whilst waiting for the base plans to download from Teletraan-1.

'He does have a point Prowl, but it's up to Spike.'

Everyone now looked at Spike and the human gulped as he felt a number of optics gazing at him waiting for an answer. Prowl sighed, he and the rest of the Autobots all agreed to protect the human race not use them. What would Prime do in a situation like this? They had known Spike for two Earth years that were mere seconds in the life of an Autobot or Decepticon. Yet within those two years Spike had grown up, he wasn't a child anymore. Prowl knealt down till he was just above Spike's eye level and spoke in a gentle tone, which was rare for one of the Autobot's stotic members.

'Spike...I don't want to ask this of you but we have no choice. Once we figured out where Bonecrusher is we need you to find him and possbley fix him. We need him online if we're gonna help Prime. I'm not kidding Spike, this will be dangerous and your life will be at risk. the choice is yours Spike. We can send Mirage out if you're not up to it.'

Thrust chuckled in the back.

'Might as well send the kid to his grave!'

Prowl shot the Decepticon a glare. Spike looked at Ravage, then at Prowl and then up at Bumblebee. Ever since he met the Autobots at the tender age of 14 he had been through all sorts of trouble. The Autobot always helped him, Optimus Prime always helped him. Optimus Prime was probaley one of his greatest friends and now he was in danger. If he could help him in anyway possible, that would be enough to repay what the Autobot leader had done for him and the people of Earth. Bumblebee put him down now that Ravage was within Hook's grasp. Spike inhaled the stale air before giving Prowl his answer.

'I'll do it.'

* * *

Perceptor never interrigated anyone before. Thankfully he had Brawn and Bluestreak in the room, they even brought Grimlock along just for a laugh. The very presence of the Dinobot sacred the old mech, the creator of the circuit that made the Autobot leader go into a fit of rage. Naturally his presence seemed to have pissed everyone off in the base. The reason for their leaders maddness was right in front of them. Perceptor managed to catch his name, Mainstream. The old mech quvered in his chair and glanced nervously at Grimlock who snarled. Much to Perceptor's suprise, Grimlock was furious when he found out what had happened to Optimus Prime.

'Me Grimlock will crush puny mech who made leader Optimus Prime act bad!' growled the Dinobot.

Mainstream yelped when Grimlock smashed his fists on the table but Brawn managed to calm him down. Perceptor tried to keep a cool face and even offered the old mech some Energon. Grimlock growled but Brawn held him back. Bluestreak chuckled a bit as the small bot did his best from keeping the Robotic T-Rex from wreaking havoc on the vunrable machine. Perceptor deceided to break the silence.

'Mainstream, I want answers. About this circuit, what it does, how it works, can the effects be altered?'

Mainstream shuffled round on his chair. He was scared being surrounded by Autobots, he was clearly a neutral nither an Autobot or a Decepticon. He had been locked up in that cell long before the war began and didn't trust either fraction. He looked up at Perceptor with tired optics.

'My friends and I built that circuit almost 14 million cycles ago. We were forbidden to use such mind-alertring technology so we worked in secret.'

'Y'mean you broke the law' grunted Brawn.

Mianstream didn't argue but continued.

'We worked on it for so long. It was supposed to use the power of the emotion of anger, rage, fear thus making the host stronger. How ever the circuit also, somehow, increased these emotions to terrifying levels. It grew a mind of it's own and found ways to control the host through his emotions.'

Perceptor would be interested in subjects like this but he had a far more important task that needed completeting. He glared at Grimlock when he tried to whack the old mech, but he didn't.

'Me Grimlock was just kidding!' snickered the Dinobot.

'Mainstream, how did it build a mind of it's own!? That's impossible for a mere circuit to do!'

Mainstream nodded and sipped some of the Energon.

'Indeed, however the circuit grew another function we were unaware about...it can copy brainwaves, Spark Signitures and even expand it's progarming into other circuits.'

Perceptor gasped.

'What are you saying!?'

Mainstream looked at his feet.

'Even if you remove the circuit you can't help you friend. It infects every circuit in his body like a virus and earses him from exsistance. His Spark will be replace from one the circuit will grown and his body will soon belong to it. Then you friend will be gone, only his shell shall remain.'

Grimlock suddenly grabbed Mainstream and hoisted him the air. Brawn tried to pull him off whilst Perceptor tried to calm him down. Grimlock snarled at the mech.

'You make Optimus Prime better or me Grimlock will crush you!'

Mainstream shook his head.

'It cannot be done! The only way to stop him is to destroy him!' wailed Mainstream.

Grimlock growled and flung the mech into the wall. Perceptor ran over to help him up while Brawn grabbed Grimlock's arms' trying to stop him from hurting the mech any futher. Perceptor forced Mainstream to his feet and looked him in the optic.

'Are you certain!? Is there no other way!? This circuit must have a weakness.'

Mainstream thought for a moment.

'Well...there is one way...but you'll never do it.'

'Tell me!' demanded Perceptor.

Mainstream sighed and whispered something into his audio's. What ever he said made Perceptor's optics widen and forcing himself to step back.

'Y-you can't be serious!?' he wailed.

'That's why your friend is better off dead!' snapped Mainstream, sitting down and drinking the rest of the Energon.

Perceptor's face was filled with shock and both Brawn and Grimlock wanted to know what all the fuss was about. They spoke in whispers in the corner of the room.

'What did puny mech say!' demaded Grimlock.

'Perceptor, what is it? Is it really that bad?' whispered Brawn.

Perceptor sighed and nodded as he looked at the worried Autobots optics. What he said next even made Grimlock gasp in shock.

'Either we kill Optimus Prime...or we erase his entire personailty and memory files...for good!'

Spike was a bit nervous as he walked down the vents of the Decepticon base. Mainly because he had Ravage right next to him, growling at him. Prowl had to convince Megatron to order Ravage to assit him, which worked but the robotic feline wasn't too happy about it. As they walked futher down the vents Spike heard Prowl's voice via his mini comm link system that Wheeljack built for him.

'Spike this is Prowl! Everything OK?'

'I'm fine Prowl...I'm near one of the energy signitures of the Decepticons.' answered Spike.

'Good, proceed with caution.'

Spike could tell Prowl was worried, this was his 40th call throughout the 20 minutes Spike had been away from the Autobots. Spike approached an opening and had to enlist the help of Ravage in opening it. As it came away they both walked out into a large corridor. Spike looked around confused, there should be a Decepticon about but no sign of anyone. He looked down at Ravage, who was also confused.

'Can't you sense your pals nearby?' asked the human.

Ravage glared at him before scanning the room. Like a dog he began sniffing round and walking around different areas to try and locate an energy signiture. Then he suddenly backed up and growled in a low tone. Spike looked up ahead to see nothing but the end of the corridor, which was about a good 50 meters away. However Spike heard footsteps and wondered if this was the Decepticon, but Ravage didn't think so and tried to push Spike away, trying to tell him that they had to leave. Spike looked up and gasped when Optimus Prime apperaed at the end of the corridor, dragging a Decepticon body with him. Spike almost cried out but recognize the body as one of the Reflector mechs, his other two bodies were possibly dead as well. Optimus hadn't seen him but was smashing the walls in anger and even used the dead Decepticon body before tearing him up. Spike would had been puking up at this point. He had seen computors and robotic toys get smashed up before and it nver bothered him but these were Decepticons and Autobots and they all had life! It was sickening to see Optimus do this sort of thing but Spike had to remind himself that it wasn't Optimus Prime. Ravage then grabbed Spike's shirt and starting dragging him away before Prime spotted them. It was a good idea but they had no place to hide, the other way out was 70 meters away and by then Optimus would had seen them. Then Spike cried out when he felt something grab him and pull both him and Ravage behind a loose wall panel. Within the dark space surrounded by wires and cables, Spike saw Optimus look up when he heard the noise and starting walking over to investigate. Before Spike could figure out what was going on he heard a voice he knew all too well.

'If you want to continue living out your misrable life span fleshling, I suggest you keep quiet!'

Spike looked round and found himself within the grasp of the Decepticon Air Commander, Starscream.


End file.
